Center Deandre Ayton (ribs) and point guard Chris Paul (groin) were inactive for the final game of Phoenix’s season on Thursday night, and it’s possible they’ve played in a Suns uniform for the last time, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com.
According to MacMahon, who cites league sources, the Suns are expected to “aggressively” explore Ayton’s trade market this offseason. Sources tell ESPN that the former No. 1 overall pick would be excited by the opportunity to get a fresh start with another team.
Ayton reached restricted free agency last summer after he logged a playoff-low 17 minutes and had a sideline confrontation with head coach Monty Williams during the Suns’ final game of the postseason, a 33-point home loss to Dallas. The big man signed a four-year, maximum-salary offer sheet with the Pacers, and was said to be keen on the idea of teaming up with Tyrese Haliburton in Indiana, but the Suns quickly matched that offer in order to retain him.
Sources tell MacMahon that Williams and some Suns players have been frustrated at times with “what they perceive to be inconsistent effort and aggression” from Ayton. Sean Deveney of Heavy.com has also heard that the center will likely be on the trade block this offseason.
“It’s almost certain they will look into trading him,” one general manager told Deveney. “I think they feel like they can do all right with a mishmash of decent centers and changing their focus on getting better talent around those two star guys. That’s been true for the past couple of years, really. Deandre has butted heads with Monty. But he can be a great player, still, it just needs to be somewhere else.”
Executives who spoke to Heavy.com speculated that the Bulls, Mavericks, Trail Blazers, and Hornets could be potential Ayton suitors.
The belief is that the Suns would be targeting ball-handlers, shooters, and/or three-and-D type players in any Ayton deal, rather than another big-money center, Deveney adds. MacMahon conveys a similar sentiment, writing that Phoenix would like to lessen the burden on Kevin Durant and Devin Booker by adding role players who complement them rather than a third star.
According to MacMahon, there’s also an expectation that Paul will be shopped before the Suns have to make a decision on his contract for 2023/24. Currently, only $15.8MM of the veteran’s $30.8MM salary is guaranteed.
In addition to mentioning this possibility in his ESPN.com story, MacMahon stated in stronger terms on the Hoop Collective podcast with Brian Windhorst that he expects Paul’s name to pop up in trade rumors.
“I certainly would anticipate they aggressively shop Chris Paul before that June 28 (salary guarantee) deadline,” MacMahon said. “I think it’s pretty likely that Chris Paul is elsewhere next year.”
As for a possible head coaching change or front office shakeup in Phoenix, there’s no solid reporting yet suggesting either will happen, but sources with other teams have speculated about the idea, MacMahon writes, noting that one scout told him when the Suns were down by 30 points at halftime on Thursday, “Some heads are going to roll for this one.”
Williams and GM James Jones have strong résumés and have helped rebuild the culture in Phoenix following several years in the lottery, but the team has now had two embarrassing playoff exits in a row and has a new owner (Mat Ishbia) who may be looking to put his stamp on the franchise.
why would anyone want broken ass CP3
Put Ayton and Paul in one trade package, and you can get two protected future Firsts
Draymond and Pool for DA and CP
Warriors mailed 2 Firsts to Arizona
Feasible if Via third team
Draymond a FA after this season
He’ll opt in
Warriors can sign and trade him.
Chris Paul is cooked
Ayton for Poole would be a good trade for both teams. Suns get the PG to take Chris Paul’s place and Ayton is the big man the Warriors need.
came here to post this as a knee-jerk reaction, but the contracts don’t match up, and that would mean Draymond is gone.
Draymond Green IS gone but the Warriors wouldn’t take on a player whose effort is not 150%. Unless they can dump Poole and a 3rd team would be involved then that’s a possibility.., but Ayton to the Warriors is not going to happen. Even Phoenix now realizes it’s all about acquiring wings and shooters as confirmed in the article above.
Suns problem is they have no bench. People are sleeping on the Nuggets they have the best team in the NBA right now. Nobody is going to beat the Nuggets if they are healthy.
Ayton would fit the warriors all he would need to do is set screens and rebound.
Ayton is a coward who sat out when Wiggins tonight (and Looney in the 2019 Finals) played through the same injury. Ayton’s not a winner, he’s not the one.
The Warriors have a track record with players that need a change of scenery and a perceived lack of effort. Everyone thought Wiggins wash a bust until he played there.
Hell, maybe he could even learn a consistent jumper there. Ayton can hit jumpers, he just isn’t consistent. If he doesn’t want to be the big everyone thinks he should be, GS is probably his best bet at learning how to improve.
Taco and Eon, great points !!
My thought and not wanting him is that he’s already got the big contract and thus less motivated.
With the Warriors it’s usually guys that are looking to build or rebuild their value then go get the money elsewhere.
Trade works per fanspo. Salaries are close enough it wouldn’t be a barrier anyway.
The Suns aren’t going to trade Ayton or Paul to a division rival.
If GSW win the title, they are not trading anyone and are re-signing Draymond. Sorry to burst your bubbles.
You don’t know that, or have any way of knowing that. It seems strange for you to declare that as definitive.
That didn’t age well did it bud
Yeah keep dreaming ….. no one wants Poole. Not even his team
Ask yourself why the Suns would want a guy who takes a lotta shots and plays no d w Book/KD?
Seems they need the opposite, trading bad tudes isnt going to net them anything
Ayton for Max Strus
Why isn’t Ayton to the Pacers a consideration?
Because the Pacers already have a superior Center in Myles Turner. Why would they make that trade now that they’ve committed to Turner?
That makes sense. Maybe I just had dreams of Moses Malone and the sixers again but that was a different time and not a year apart.
Ayton, Shamet 23rd 2nd to Hawks for Capela and Collins.
CP3 to Bulls for Lonzo (never playing again), Caruso, Drummond, and DJJ.
Bulls need Ayton too, probably could work something out to package both. If Suns want picks though it would have to involve a 3rd team.
Good place to start. Suns didn’t have enough up front to defeat the Nuggets.
If you’re the Grizzlies here’s an opportunity to upgrade over Adams.
Ayton with Bane and Morant and JJJ sounds nasty.
Ayton and Shamet for Jones, Adams, Kennard works money wise. Theyll have to figure out draft picks players etc to make it come to life.
At this point in his career I think CP3 would make a great bench piece. Maybe the Thunder reacquire him and he serves as a 6th man to lead a young inexperienced group.
Ayton is not an upgrade over Adams. And if they were looking to move Adams, it would be to let Jackson play center
The playoffs showed exactly why Jackson playing center was a bad idea and not an actual long term solution in the west.
Ayton is a clear upgrade over Adams especially offensively.
Grizzlies can also bring in OG Anunoby to be the 3-D guy they need at SF.
It’s been pretty well proven that you can’t win with these guys, so I’m not sure what the market would be.
How do you figure?
Paul’s market will be a team looking to shed some cap. What contender wants a player who can’t stay healthy in the playoff’s… EVER????
I’m thinking the sixers would fit that description.
Maybe a sign and trade with FVV + Boucher for Ayton.
Raptors love Poeltl
Ayton missed an elimination game cuz his tummy hurt
As somebody who played through a sports event despite bruised ribs, I get why he sat out. That said, you aren’t going to make it worse unless you smash into other players, and Ayton doesn’t do that anyway. He should have gone.
I played with fractured ribs, couldn’t even breathe it hurt so bad. Ayton is soft.
Wiggins is about to play today with fractured ribs, and Looney had them in the 2019 Finals and played through the pain (although was always looking in pain).
Looney and Wiggins have rings. Interesting.
I played NBA2k with a broken ankle. Ayton is soft.
Both guys are bums and not winners.
Booker is the same, just wait.
The Suns and Grizzlies 100% destroyed by karma this year. How dare they not win the title, but at the end of the year declare themselves “the best team in the West” or “the team to beat this season”! Absolute lies, neither team had it in them at any point. CP3 (and Harden and Russ) will never win a title, period. Their styles aren’t Champion-tier. They refuse to do the things needed to win and have no rings while Steph, Klay and Dray have 4 – THATS your “team to beat” not the Phoenix Frauds and Memphis Clowns.
The Golden State Warriors are YOUR defending Champions. They lost none of their core from last year, therefore GSW has always been “the team to beat” this season (and many did). But mouthing off like you won the title and were top dogs in the NBA when you never won a thing, that’s when karma will step in and now look at them. Moral of the story: unless you win the title and keep your core, never self-define as “the team to beat”. Know ball.
GSW are on the ropes against the ghost of Lebron and Street Clothes. Hardly “the team to beat.” But cool story bro.
This sounds like a WWE promo lmao
When I was a teenager back in the good ol’ days (the 80s) I would spend a few weeks every summer at my grandparents’ home in the Bay Area. Guess how many people I saw wearing Warriors gear? That’s right- zero. Nada. Zilch. Bupkis. They were all wearing Lakers gear. Now fast forward to today. Fanboys everywhere claiming to be lifelong Warriors fans. Whatever. I’ve met one true Warriors fan in 50 years. One. I met him in New York in the 90s. He’s the only person I ever met who had the guts to wear his Warriors gear when they were mediocre (at best).
AZnative, the warriors were horrible in the ’80s. Definitely no one sporting a Warriors jersey. It was West Coast versus East Coast back then either Lakers or Celtics. Then the ’90s everyone on both coasts wore Bull’s gear as the Lakers were floundering with the celtics.
Even with Run TMC doing okay in the early 90s you didn’t see Warriors gear out there. But in the 2000s things started changing and when the Warriors made the playoffs and ’07 fans were going nuts. Baron Davis, the defense, Jason Richardson slam Dunk champion then of course beating the Mavericks.
I don’t think Bay area basketball fans have looked back ever since, Even though it took five or seven more years to be good enough to make the playoffs again.
Once Denver slid past the Timberwolves there is no stopping them!!!!
Thibs can fix Ayton. And NY pressure will make him hungry to be great.
I really believe he’s got the talent to be an all star. Just can’t believe he is going to just survive in the NBA. Whatever is wrong. It’s between the ears imo. Knicks will gladly take him. Mitch, Fournier, and Two #1s
Def between the ears, tho he might need to take the yellow brick road twice to get a heart as well
Agree Thibs could be good for him
Most of Nyk’s capital resides in draft picks tho so if Ayton moves to NYK I see it being a 3teamer w Mitch from Nyk moving, probably Fourn to 3rd team as expiring then 3rd team fills in the rotation/salary players to Phx
NYK has an interesting offseason, they are like the Queen in chess, can move in any direction on the board but you dont want to take it out toooo early unless there’s just some savage gains to be had
Jokic has definitely exposed him. I liked Ayton a lot coming out of college.
Yeah Knicks have to be analytical about this. Do t just jump into anything. I’d rather a younger star. Under 30. Unless it’s DeRozan.
Oh snap. I’ma be honest this is literally the 1st time I seen this guy say anything right. Mitchell Robinson, Evan Fournier, Milwaukee’s 2025 1st, New Yorks’s unprotected 2027 1st & maybe a future 2nd for Ayton is a smooth move for both teams fr
Really …. Ok how’s this for being right.
Why don’t you go hide with your team again. I’m always here …..
I don’t know, I think I’d rather keep Mitch. This play off season, he didn’t put up the same points, but he lead in rebounds like Ayton. And had less turnovers. Mitch might be better than Ayton. At least for right now…
I think it’s fair to say Ayton doesn’t have that motor you’d like to see but quite honestly I think he’s never had the support of his team to help make him great. He’s shot well over 55% from the field for his career Buy he’s never taken more that about 12-15 shots a game. We crucify him because he got smoked by Jokic but he IS the two time MVP. Ayton shot 58% from the field against him but on average only took 9 shots per game. He needs to guards to feed him in the paint. Giving him the ball coming off of pick and rolls where he’s left out on the perimeter isn’ta purposeful pass. He needs the ball in a position to go something with it. Asking your big to live almost silent off of offensive rebounds and broken down plays isn’t enough. I think if he’s given the ball 20x a game he’d still be successful more than 50% of the time. That might help motivate him to be more engaged throughout the game, on both sides of the ball. Of course he should be a professional and battle hard defensively because he’s going a nice check but some players need to be motivated. Someone mentioned a trade with GSW for Poole but honestly, the Suns wouldn’t want Poole because he’s not a natural PG and GSW is pretty much getting what they need from a center from Looney. They don’t necessarily need a scorer from that position and Looney is satisfied playing good defense and rebounding. Scoring is not the greatest concern for GSW and the Suns need scoring more from the wings.
Agree 100% on Ayton. Perhaps more importantly, his value probably isn’t too high at this point and selling low on him wouldn’t make much sense. Now, if you can get a legitimate return for him that’s a different story.
If the Suns are smart, they’ll shop CP3 (probably unsuccessfully), keep Ayton, fire Monty, and hire someone willing to a) get Ayton more involved, and b) implement a cohesive offensive system. That’s the much better route to go for the upcoming season. No sense in jettisoning a talent like Ayton without seeing if a coaching change does the trick, but particularly when that coach has known beef with him and, more generally, a spotty record in the playoffs.
Just don’t see who would take CP3 now.
Ayton will definitely draw interest. But his value is low now. It’s why I’d like to see Knicks look into this. He’s 24 yrs old.
The Bulls would, unfortunately. They are one of the few nba teams who literally does not have a pg in the roster, even though coby White is listed that way. A tag team of Paul and Pat Bev would actually be an upgrade over last year’s mess.