Deandre Ayton Just Signed A $133 Million Contract — And Is Probably Upset About It

ByJoey Heldon July 18, 2022inArticles›Sports News

Restricted free agency is a strange concept in basketball. A player can choose to sign with another team, much like traditional free agency. However, the player’s current team can match whatever that other team offers, and the player has to sign with his current team. It can lead to some particularly tense situations, especially if the player doesn’t really want to play for his current team.

That seems to be the case in Phoenix, where the Suns matched the Indiana Pacers’ offer sheet of center Deandre Ayton mere minutes after the Pacers offered it. The deal, worth four years over $133 million, is the largest matched contract in NBA history . It easily surpassed the 2017 offer sheet given to Otto Porter, which was worth $106.5 million over four years.

Here’s the interesting part: Ayton might not want to play in Phoenix anymore — which means he’s upset the Suns matched the offer sheet. Yes, even with a $133 million payday coming his way.

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

The relationship between Ayton and the Suns started souring last summer. Ayton was an instrumental part of the Suns’ rise, helping lead the team to within two wins of a championship. The Suns’ franchise has never won a title and had only made the Finals one other time before 2021. Ayton was looking forward to a max offer then, but the offer never came. He watched as his fellow 2018 NBA Draft classmates Luka Doncic and Trae Young signed massive deals with the Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks, respectively. But the Suns, a team that has traded multiple draft picks over the years in exchange for cash, didn’t want to pay up.

That didn’t sit well with Ayton, who played the 2021-22 season with looming contract negotiations that never came to fruition. He also apparently had a verbal altercation with Suns head coach Monty Williams during Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals. Ayton only played 17 minutes and the Suns lost by 33 points — against the Mavericks and Doncic, who was drafted two spots after Ayton.

Now that the Suns have matched the Pacers’ offer sheet, Ayton can’t be traded until January 15 at the earliest. He also has veto power over any trade for a full year. It’s very likely Ayton stays in Phoenix through the 2022-23 season, and perhaps much longer than that. And he probably won’t be very happy playing for a franchise that he feels has disrespected him.

Then again, the Suns are still among the best teams in the NBA, with Ayton, Devin Booker , Chris Paul , and a solid supporting cast. Maybe winning can cure any internal team blues.

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Next Season The Phoenix Suns Will Pay Just Four Players A Ridiculous Amount Of Money

ByJoey Heldon June 28, 2023inArticles›Sports News

Earlier this year, the Phoenix Suns shook up the NBA with a massive trade to acquire Kevin Durant . The move didn’t result in postseason success, as the team never fully gelled and lost to the eventual champion Denver Nuggets in the second round.

Now, the Suns are back at it again. They traded Chris Paul , Landry Shamet, multiple second-round picks and a pick swap to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Bradley Beal , Isaiah Todd, and Jordan Goodwin.

The Suns, a team that reached the NBA Finals in 2021, are clearly trying to win a championship before their window closes. Beal joins Durant, Devin Booker , and Deandre Ayton to create an impressive group of stars. Although it’s going to cost the Suns a LOT of money to field this roster.

Bradley Beal (L) shooting over Devin Booker. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

All four players are on max contracts. This upcoming season, the Suns will owe Durant (about $47.6 million), Beal (about $46.7 million), Booker (about $36 million), and Ayton (about $32.4 million). All together, next season these four will earn a collective…

$163 million

Adding to the complexity, the upcoming collective bargaining agreement will impose strict penalties on teams that go over the second apron of the luxury tax. That threshold currently sits at $179.5 million. To avoid going past that number, the Suns will have to figure out a way to split about $16.5 million between ten players.

This isn’t a one-year issue, either. Beal still has $207 million and four years remaining on his contract. Durant has about $149.5 million over three seasons, plus a few extra million in likely incentives. Ayton will make a shade over $102 million in the next three seasons. Booker is in the final year of his deal, but at just 27 years old and still in his prime, the Suns will try to do all they can to retain him.

It’s almost a given that most of the Suns’ bench will consist of players on veteran minimum contracts. The only other players currently under contract are backup guard Cameron Paine; Ish Wainright, who averaged about 15 minutes per game last season; Goodwin, who was productive with the Wizards; and Todd, who’s played 135 minutes total in two seasons.

With the free agency period kicking off on June 30, the Suns probably have more moves to make. If it leads to the first championship in franchise history, all the spending will be worth it.

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• Chris Paul Bet On Himself In June… And It Just Paid Off In A Big Way
• Deandre Ayton Just Signed A $133 Million Contract — And Is Probably Upset About It
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