Ayton, Suns fail to come to terms

The deadline has come and past and DeAndre Ayton is looking to receive a huge pay day from the Phoenix Suns.

The Suns didn’t meet the deadline of offering the Bahamian big man a rookie extension in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Ayton, who blossomed under the guidance of Head Coach Monty Williams and the arrival of pure point guard Chris Paul in Phoenix last season, particularly in the playoffs, helped the Suns reach within two games of winning an NBA title. He expected a max contract extension with the Suns this summer, paying him up to $207 million over five years. He’s eligible for a $172.5 million extension, with escalators possibly making up the balance.

All this means is that the 23-year-old starting center of the Suns will enter the final year of his rookie contract at odds with the team that drafted in No. 1 overall in 2018, giving him a chance to show his talents at the big league level. Ayton has said that he is “disappointed.”

Ayton has averaged a double-double in each of his first three years in the league – putting up 16.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game in his rookie season, 18.2 points and 11.5 rebounds in the 2019-2020 season and 14.4 points and 10.5 rebounds per game this past season. In the playoffs last season, he averaged 15.8 points and 11.8 rebounds per game.

This past season, Ayton averaged a 

career-best 62.6 percent shooting from the field, more than four percentage points higher than his previous career best. His modest scoring numbers were primarily a result of his willingness to accept a reduced role on an offense that included all-star guards Paul and Devin Booker. Ayton has started all but seven games of his NBA career at the center position.

Ayton, a key component of the Suns’ run to the 2021 NBA Finals, said he has no intention of accepting a deal less than the comparable max contracts signed by several of his 2018 NBA draft classmates, including Atlanta’s Trae Young, Dallas’ Luka Dončić, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver’s Michael Porter Jr., as reported by ESPN.

Given’s Ayton’s development and matriculation over the past season, now considered one of the top young centers in the league, one would have expected that a deal would have been completed in the offseason, but Suns’ Owner Robert Sarver hasn’t caved in, reportedly because of a perception that Ayton is not on the level of Young, Dončić and Gilgeous-Alexander.

The 6’ 11” 250-pound center struggled defensively early in his career, but really blossomed as a two-way player under Williams.

He has been a double-double machine since entering the league in 2018. Ayton broke the Suns’ rookie record for double-doubles in a season in 2018-2019, setting the new mark at 39. He added 23 the following season in limited action, and had 33 a year ago. He posted 14 double-doubles in the playoffs, and the Suns went 10-4 in those games.

Also among his playoff successes, according to ESPN’s Stats & Information, his 66 percent postseason field goal percentage was the highest in NBA history. He shot at least 50 percent in 17 straight playoff games, trailing only Shaquille O’Neal (2006) for the longest postseason streak in league history.

Ayton held NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) Giannis Antetokounmpo to 53 percent shooting as the primary defender of him in the finals, while Antetokounmpo shot 70 percent against the rest of the Suns.

The Suns were able to work out an extension with Mikal Bridges, who was taken 10th overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2018 and immediately traded to the Suns, but former No. 1 overall pick Ayton is now set to become a restricted free agent in 2022.

Signing a qualifying offer is an option for Ayton and would be the equivalent of accepting a one-year contract that would put him on track for unrestricted free agency in 2023. While it’s an unlikely scenario, it’s worth noting that Ayton’s qualifying offer would be worth $16.4 million.

In any event, it looks like Ayton will be one of the top free agents in next year’s class.

Ayton and the Suns will host the Denver Nuggets in their season opener on Wednesday. That game will be played at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona, and will get underway at 10 p.m. The Suns finished the preseason with a 3-1 win/loss record, winning by an average of 28.67 points in their last three games.

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