What is next for the Suns-Ayton
Making the NBA Finals last season was no small feat for the Phoenix Suns, a team that entering the 2020-21 season had not been to the playoffs since 2010. The addition of Chris Paul brought out the best in guys like Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges and even Cameron Payne, but Paul’s presence also had a huge impact on Deandre Ayton.
The near 7-foot center was drafted first overall by Phoenix in 2018 and he has really come into his own since his rookie season. Ayton’s scoring numbers dropped last season and his rebounding averages slightly declined, but this was expected with Chris Paul and Jae Crowder joining the team.
After all, Deandre Ayton did see his field goal percentage skyrocket up during the regular season and he looked a lot more comfortable running pick-and-roll sets with both Booker and Paul.
Phoenix finished with the second-best record in the Western Conference/NBA last season and their run to the NBA Finals was not a fluke. They took down the reigning NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers in the first round, swept the Denver Nuggets and league-MVP Nikola Jokic in the Western Conference Semifinals, and then they beat a red-hot Los Angeles Clippers team in the Western Conference Finals.
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Losing to the Bucks in The Finals after winning the first two games of the series was definitely heartbreaking for this organization, but Deandre Ayton emerged as one of the best centers in the league last postseason. With no prior playoff experience, Ayton averaged 15.8 points, 11.8 rebounds, 1.1 blocks, and shot 65.8% from the floor!
Perhaps the two most important/impressive stats from the Suns’ playoff run for Ayton was the fact that he was one of the best offensive rebounders, averaging 3.0 offensive boards per game, and he averaged upwards of 36 minutes per game! He played the most minutes out of any center in the league in the postseason and gave it his all for the Suns when out there on the court.
After this run to the NBA Finals and after some historic performances by Deandre Ayton in his first-ever playoff series, many around the league expected the Suns and Ayton to come to terms on a long-term extension this offseason, but that was not the case. Time began to fly by after Phoenix lost to the Bucks and while nobody was concerned about Ayton getting a deal, the extension deadline began to quickly approach.
On October 18, the Phoenix Suns and Deandre Ayton met to discuss potential long-term deals, but the two sides were very far apart on what they intended on offering/getting. Sources told NBA Analysis Network that the Suns did offer Ayton a contract that would pay him well over $20M per year, but they only offered a contract that would span over three years and possibly have an add-on player/team option for a fourth year.
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This was unacceptable to Ayton and his management, as they were fully expecting to receive a five-year, max contract that would pay upwards of $170M in total, similar to the deals that others from the 2018 draft class like Trae Young, Luka Doncic, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had received this offseason.
As a result of not getting the deal they wanted, no contract extension was agreed upon and now, Deandre Ayton will not only be a restricted free agent following the 2021-22 season but there seems to be a sense of awkwardness in Phoenix right now because of the fact that Mikal Bridges and Landry Shamet both got long-term extensions.
The Suns agreed to pay Bridges and Shamet a combined $133M over the next four seasons, but they were unwilling to give this kind of money to Deandre Ayton, who is arguably their third most important player behind Devin Booker and Chris Paul. Suns owner Robert Sarver has been known in the past to make some questionable decisions in terms of keeping certain players around and his recent move with Ayton is not that surprising to some.
In fact, one NBA executive spoke with Michael Scotto of HoopsHype and stated, “That owner (Robert Sarver) is cheap, and he’ll get killed for it again. He finally had some goodwill making the Finals, and he pulls this (not extending Ayton).”
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This situation with Deandre Ayton is definitely not optimal for the Phoenix Suns, but it may not ultimately serve as a distraction. This team is coming off a year in which they unexpectedly won the Western Conference and they are not going anywhere anytime soon. Last year definitely was not a fluke and the Suns are going to be looking to prove this during the 2021-22 season.
As much as Ayton wanted to get a long-term extension done with this team, we could be lookin at a very similar situation to that of John Collins and the Hawks from this past year. Atlanta did not agree to a long-term deal with Collins ahead of the 2020-21 season and then they got a long-term, max deal done this past offseason, so we could see a similar route with Deandre Ayton and the Phoenix Suns.
