

Hawks’ best trade targets who could elevate them to contender status Is that kind of player still worth a max? We'll find out. There's no doubting Ayton's talent as a versatile scorer, high-level rebounder and improved defender, but he's also not in the upper-echelon of centers that include guys like Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid and company. The hesitation to give him such a deal is justified by the Suns, who registered a net rating of plus-19.0 when backup center JaVale McGee shared the floor with the other four starters (Paul, Booker, Bridges and Jae Crowder) compared to plus-7.4 with Ayton, albeit in a much smaller sample size. This would mean a four-year, $130.1 million deal in a sign-and-trade (since the Suns won't let him walk for anything) or a five-year, $175.5 million contract to stay in Phoenix, per 's Keith Smith. Teams looking to sign Ayton this summer (Wojnarowski mentioned the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs and Portland Trail Blazers as potential suitors) shouldn't come in with anything lower than a max offer.
#Deandre ayton stts free#
Welcome to the wonderful world that is restricted free agency.Īyton will be getting paid, but it remains to be seen if the bag will be coming from the Suns or not.Read on TwitterThat line of thinking has not changed on Ayton's end, especially since he put up another productive season (17.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, 0.7 blocks, 63.4 percent shooting) and has witnessed teammates like Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges and Chris Paul all sign significant new deals. However, Ayton and his camp will be hard-pressed to find a better basketball situation than the one going on down in The Valley. Ayton and Duffy should still try to get the best offer sheet out there and hope the Suns will match it. However, he is at-best the third most important player in this core of the Suns behind veteran point guard Chris Paul and up-and-coming superstar shooting guard Devin Booker.Ĭould Ayton return to the Suns on a new deal? Absolutely, but it would have to be on their terms. Ayton has been vastly improved in his two most recent seasons in Phoenix. There are other excellent players from this particular draft, but Doncic and Young are the shining stars up to this point of their NBA careers. Duffy’s other client Luka Doncic went two picks later to the Atlanta Hawks, who traded his draft rights to the Dallas Mavericks for Trae Young, who went No. 1 overall pick, opting to take the native Bahamian who played part of his high school ball in The Valley, as well as down the road at U of A in Tucson. Phoenix could have had anyone in the 2018 NBA Draft.

Here is the entire clip of Duffy speaking with SiriusXM last week when he was up in Chicago.ĭeandre Ayton’s agent, Bill Duffy, hinting at them not preparing to accept anything less than a max contract this offseason: /rqKS5MBl0wĭeandre Ayton’s agent expressed disappointment in Phoenix Suns contract saga He’s a restricted free agent, so we’ll see how this process unfolds.” There’s other teams in the league as well. A lot of guys handle things differently, but he was very mature about it … Things will work out for Deandre. “He went out and was a solider the whole year, played well, improved his statistics. We wanted a max contract,” said Duffy on SiriusXM.

Though Phoenix has the opportunity to match any offer sheet he garners in his restricted free agency, Ayton’s agent Bill Duffy expressed how disappointed they are with the Suns right now. 1 overall pick out of Arizona could be playing for a new team next year. There is a chance Deandre Ayton has played his final game in a Phoenix Suns uniform.īecause the Suns did not extend the five-year, rookie-scale max extension to Ayton before last season, the former No. Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton enters this NBA offseason as a restricted free agent.
