Phoenix Suns star center and former No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton might have played his final game as a member of the team.
Ayton appeared in just 17 minutes of action in the Suns’ humiliating Game 7 home loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Semifinals. He only scored five points on 2-of-5 shooting as the Suns’ season came to a premature end.
When asked about Ayton’s lack of minutes, Suns head coach Monty Williams simply said “it’s internal” and refused to comment any further.
The backdrop here is Ayton’s status as a pending restricted free agent and the fact that Phoenix refused to offer him a max contract extension ahead of the 2021-22 season. Some within the Suns’ brass don’t view him as worthy of said contract.
In talking about the Deandre Ayton situation after the Suns were eliminated by Dallas, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski had something interesting to report:
“Deandre Ayton did not feel valued by this Phoenix organization. He is going to get a max contract in the marketplace, somewhere. There are a lot of teams lining up to figure out ‘how can we acquire him?’”
It was back in October that reports surfaced Ayton wanted a five-year, $172.5M max-level contract extension with potential escalators. Phoenix was not having any of it.
“If we can get something that works for both sides, we definitely would,” Suns owner Robert Sarver said last October.
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