Marvin Bagley III and Michael Porter Jr. believe they are the best players in this NBA draft Grady Jarrett Jersey , though the best they can hope for is probably the No. 2 pick.

The Sacramento Kings own it, and that’s where the intrigue appears to begin Thursday.

Arizona center Deandre Ayton is expected to be taken by the Phoenix Suns to open the draft, and then Bagley, Porter, Slovenian guard Luka Doncic or Michigan State’s Jaren Jackson Jr. could be considered by Sacramento.

The Kings have been one of the league’s lowliest franchises, not making the playoffs since 2006. But Bagley and Porter both said they would be open to playing in Sacramento, and getting picked so early would be an accomplishment for Porter after a back injury sidelined him for nearly all of his only season at Missouri.

Bagley thrived in his one season at Duke and doesn’t expect that to change once he’s a pro.

”I want to be the greatest player to ever play the game of basketball, and I mean that in the most humble way possible,” he said. ”Not to sound cocky or come off as arrogant, but that’s just the mindset that I have. I always say, if you don’t want to get to that level or be the best, then there’s really no need to play.”

Doncic only arrived in the U.S. on Wednesday after helping Real Madrid win the ACB league championship a day earlier. If the Kings don’t select him, he could end up in Atlanta, Memphis or Dallas, who round out the top-five spots.

Other things to know before Thursday’s draft at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center:

BAHAMAS TO BROOKLYN

Ayton could join 1978 top pick Mychal Thompson – father of Golden State star Klay Thompson – as the only players from the Bahamas to go No. 1.

”It’s just a huge opportunity to show the world that we’re coming. Bahamian people are coming,” Ayton said. ”We’re not just only a country of track and field athletes. We can also play basketball.”

If it happens and Doncic follows Roger Lewis Jersey , it would be the first time the NBA draft started with two international-born players.

TERRIFIC TEAMMATES

Power programs such as Duke (Bagley and Wendell Carter Jr.), Michigan State (Jackson and Miles Bridges), national champion Villanova (Mikal Bridges and Donte DiVincenzo) and Kentucky (Kevin Knox and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) could have multiple players taken in the top 10-15 selections of the two-round draft.

MAKING A MOCKERY

Jackson was on the rise in some mock drafts this spring, though he never noticed. He said he would look at them sometimes when he was a younger fan, but hasn’t had any interest now that his name is in them.

”I think when I was in high school, I probably looked at those mock drafts when they came out and said, `Oh snap.’ But as I found out there was like so many people making different ones, I kind of just lost interest in looking at it,” he said. ”I kind of just play my game, work on getting better and just wait for that moment. Tomorrow’s the day so there’s no more mocks. It’s going to be the regular draft.”

TURN OFF TWITTER

Porter was frustrated when he felt comments he made in an interview were turned around, quickly learning that life will be different in the NBA.

”I’ll give you an example. Yesterday I get asked, who have you been compared to in the NBA? Who do people compare you to?” Porter said. ”And I said, `You know, I’ve been compared to KD (Kevin Durant) before. I’ve been compared to Tracy McGrady,’ and then they put it on Twitter, it’s like Stefon Diggs Jersey , Michael Porter says he’s as good as KD and Tracy McGrady. And I’m like come on, bro, I didn’t say that. But at the end of the day, that’s why I try to stay off Twitter.”

STYLE WATCH

Carter wore pants that had a different pattern on each leg to his Wednesday media session and there was some other sparkle in the room, but the best of the style figures to come out, as usual, on draft night.

”All the way from when LeBron had the all-white coming out, the suits are what stand out to me, what they wear,” Young said. ”Everybody has a different background and different story on how they got there, but what they’re wearing is what sticks out to me right now.”

And he’s planning to make an NBA first impression.

”Yeah, it’s going to be something fine,” the point guard said. ”It’s going to be something crazy.”

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John Tavares isn’t the only free agent going back to a familiar place.

Several players are returning to their former teams and comfortable situations – from James van Riemsdyk going back to Philadelphia on the second-richest July 1 deal to Matt Cullen taking a significant pay cut to rejoin the Pittsburgh Penguins he helped win the Stanley Cup twice. It’s not quite the tug at the heartstrings that led Tavares to sign a $77 million, seven-year deal with his boyhood Toronto Maple Leafs, but familiarity was part of the bustle on the opening day of NHL free agency .

”I have that comfortablity with knowing a lot about the organization having played there in the past and having a lot of familiar faces still on the staff and stuff like that,” van Riemsdyk said after signing a $35 million Will Lutz Jersey , five-year deal with the Flyers. ”Even just remembering to my time previously is just how bad obviously they want to win and they’re willing to put the resources into that. That passion and that commitment to that was a big thing for me.”

Unsure there’d be room for him after his old team re-signed Riley Sheahan, Cullen signed a $650,000, one-year deal with the Penguins after spending a season back home in Minnesota. Tomas Plekanec was away from Montreal for only a few months, signing a bonus-laden $2.25 million, one-year deal with the Canadiens after they traded him to the rival Maple Leafs at the deadline.

Plekanec had planned since the end of the season to go back to Montreal, where his family remained when he went to Toronto. He will be back at the Bell Centre on a contract that can be worth another $1.25 million in incentives. The 35-year-old will get to play his 1,000th career regular-season game in his familiar blue, white and red uniform this October.

”That was my priority,” Plekanec said. ”I wanted to come back.”

While Plekanec obviously felt a strong connection to Montreal after 14 seasons there, David Perron will be playing for the St. Louis Blues for the third time in his NHL career after signing for $16 million over four years. Perron spent his first six seasons with the Blues after they took him in the first round in 2007, returned as a free agent two summers ago, was taken by the Golden Knights in the expansion draft a year ago and is back again after setting career highs with 50 assists and 66 points in Las Vegas.

”Obviously (the Golden Knights) made the right decision with the way that David played for them,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. ”He certainly could’ve made more money on the market. He wanted to come back.”

Thomas Vanek enjoyed his 48 games with the Detroit Red Wings in 2016-17 so much he wanted to sign with them last July but they didn’t have enough salary-cap space. When the opportunity presented itself this time, the 34-year-old winger zeroed in on a one-year deal and chose Detroit’s $3 million offer over a few other options.

”I loved it there,” Vanek said. ”It was a good it. I really liked the whole culture of the organization and the guys were great. We tried to make it work last year. It didn’t work out Kenny Clark Jersey , so I’m happy it did this year.”

No one says hockey players can’t go home, but there has to be mutual interest. It was simple for the Penguins, who lacked something without Cullen in their second-round loss to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals. Pittsburgh had tried to reacquire the 41-year-old center at the trade deadline.

It was a bit more complicated for the Flyers, who traded van Riemsdyk to Toronto in 2012 in a one-for-one deal for bruising defenseman Luke Schenn. That was under a previous regime that believed the 6-foot-3, 217-pound left winger wasn’t tough enough, but GM Ron Hextall sees a player who checks the boxes for a playoff contender with a few holes.

”We felt with the fit that we needed some size,” Hextall said. ”We needed goal-scoring. We need a left winger. This one just fit all around for us and I think James felt the same way.”

The personality fit was there, too, because Flyers management knew van Riemsdyk, who is 29. Coming through Philadelphia’s system as the second overall pick in 2007 helped with Hextall being willing to make his biggest free agent splash.

”We know the person – people inside this organization – (and) obviously that helps,” Hextall said.

Van Riemsdyk did his homework by talking with captain Claude Giroux, winger Jakub Voracek and recent Flyers players before choosing to return to his first NHL organization. He also fondly remembered the Flyers’ run to the Cup Final in 2010.

”Hopefully again we get a chance to do something like that in the future,” he said.

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