Suns center Deandre Ayton enjoyed yet another promising regular season run in 2022/23, followed by a second consecutive disappointing playoff performance. Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic unpacks three reasons Phoenix should retain Ayton for 2023/24, along with three reasons to trade him.
Ayton signed a four-year, $133M offer sheet from the Pacers last summer, which the Suns promptly matched. Rankin believes that Ayton’s scoring versatility and his solid work as a screen-setter make him a good fit alongside stars Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, adding that working with a new head coach could be good for him.
The 6’11” big man averaged 18.0 PPG and 10.0 RPG across 67 contests with the Suns during the regular season, but took a step back as a scorer and defender in the playoffs. He averaged 13.4 PPG and 9.7 RPG overall in Phoenix’s 10 postseason contests this year.
There’s more out of Phoenix:
- New Suns head coach Frank Vogel made an instant impression on new majority owner Mat Ishbia, per Doug Haller of The Athletic. “Right away, he puts you at ease,” Ishbia told Haller. Haller details how Vogel, who won a title with the Lakers in 2020, got the gig, and how he’ll help the team take the next steps in its championship chase. Haller reveals that Ishbia and team president James Jones kept Booker and Durant looped into their coaching search as they narrowed down their candidates. “Sometimes you need an injection of something, a different message, a different focus, a different perspective,’’ Jones told Haller. “You just need a different message and someone to carry the message differently. That’s sports.” Haller notes that Vogel’s previous experiences winning it all, managing star players, and being able to adjust his defensive schemes to accommodate different rosters particularly stood out.
- Jones viewed the retention of assistant coach Kevin Young, a finalist for the head coaching position, as imperative to the team. Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports unpacks Jones’ comments and more from the introductory press conference of Vogel. “Throughout the entire process, we’ve had frank discussions with Kevin around his desire to be in Phoenix,” Jones said. “He wanted to be here, we wanted him to be here, because he’s a great coach and he wants to win. So given the opportunity to stay here and continue to build with us, it was an easy decision for him, and it was an easy decision for us.”
- As the Suns continue to consider whether they will waive veteran starting point guard Chris Paul, stretch and waive him, or trade him, Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports weighs the various positives and negatives surrounding each potential decision.
I don’t get the desire to trade Ayton. He’s a good player who’s game meshes well with both Booker & Durant. Not to mention any return will not be an “On” court upgrade.
I don’t get the Ayton hate. No young big has his numbers or game. I’d gladly take him in NY.
Mitch, Quickley, Fournier, and a #1 pick
The Suns and Monty are the ones who wronged Ayton from the beginning. They didnt give him the extension, they always try to scapegoat and patronize him. They never protected him and treated him like #1 pick. They wrongfully prioritized Paul over Ayton 2 yrs ago. NO WONDER Ayton hasnt fully developed and bought in both mentally and physically. You get what you paid for and what you put in. Paul and Monty both deserved to go for failing Ayton. The GM is the next to go.
These comments are weird to see. I like Ayton but normally people in the comments be hayton on Ayton.
Agreed, no argument I rate Ayton a lot. I think Monty didn’t like him and under a different coach he will improve a lot, it’s a bad call moving him unless it’s for a win now package but I can’t see anything beyond a package of Turner and Heild but I think Ayton is worth more than that.
Keep hearing Harden being linked, but Ayton is the only value they could offer and he is effectively useless in Philly. Maybe C’s moving Williams and Smart with a S&T for Paul and Ayton, which is unlikely. But I just don’t see Suns getting improvement by trading Ayton.
Something interesting happened at a postgame press conference during the 1st-round Suns/Clippers series.
Booker & CP3 were sitting together, and they heaped praise upon Russell Westbrook.
I believe the Suns will try to retain CP3 (at a lower price point) and then try to persuade Westbrook to sign for the veterans’ minimum or perhaps a little more than that.
Other veterans want to play with Booker & Durant. The Suns will probably fill out their bench with players who are willing to take a one-year discount in a quest for a ring.
Man I would love Ayton on my team
DeAndre Ayton, Landry Shamet and 2 second round picks for Pascal Siakim and Otto Porter Jr.
I think Portland doesn’t make the deal for Pascal, which puts Toronto into a tough situation. They look set for abit of a rebuild around Scottie Barnes. Pascal is in the last year of his deal, he’s 29 years old and his next deal will be expensive, something the Raptors know and so they will be looking to move him. In this deal they get DeAndre Ayton who would pair really well with Scottie Barnes in the new era for the raptors. It also means they don’t have to pay Poeltl his money and they add guard depth in Shamet which they will need with FVV and GTJ both expected to leave in FA.
For the Suns, Siakim is the perfect 3rd star that would fit really well with Booker and KD. Pascal defends at a high level, passes really well, rebounds good, and spaces the floor a little.
Otto Porter also would be a great role player for them once he’s fit and healthy again.
From there, I’d then sign Andre Drummond (vets min) as your Ayton replacement. He’s not amazing but he will rebound the ball better than most guys in the league and will give you 110% effort.
I’d go after Denis Schroder (full MLE for 1 year plus player option for another) as your CP3 replacement. Good defender, solid 4th scoring option, can pass the ball well, doesn’t mind playing off ball, and would work well in combination with Cam Payne. Frank Vogel also worked with Schroder with the Lakers.
Then from there, building out the bench and I’d start with bringing back Jock Landale (1 year 6mil) and maybe Terrance Ross (vet min) then adding a couple more guys. I could see Kevin Knox return home to Phoenix, and being a depth piece (vet min). I could see Serge Ibaka (vet min) linking up as a back up big man option. Id lastly throw Dennis Smith Jr (vet min) a contract. He will be cheap as chips, will really want to earn minutes and think you need that hunger from young guys in the team. Then lastly just cause you can bring back TJ Warren (bi-annual exception)
Thus leaving you to line up next year like this ..
Schroder Booker KD Siakim and Drummond
Payne Ross Warren Porter Landale
DSJ Knox Ibaka
Drummond has an option for double the vets min in chi
Phx will most likely only have the tpmle
Stay in Chicago as a back up on a non playoff team or move to Phoenix and be a starter on a playoff side that has ambitions to win a title….
The tpmle or full MLE is what I suggest they offer Schroder plus a player option. Then after that they would have the biannual which I believe is about 3.5mil which they could offer to Drummond. I’m not no expert on the cap but I believe you can the. resign guys and offer them more money while being over the cap. An example of this is the Celtics can offer Jaylen Brown the super max even, and the lakers could bring back Dlo Reaves and Hachimura but would be well over the cap but can’t just offer that kinda money to guys not on their roster.
So in theory could afford to bring back guys such as TRoss, Warren and Landale. All of which wouldn’t be huge deals anyway. Then On top of that I know after that your then limited to only offering the vets min to fill out your roster which is what I’d do offering deals to Knox, DSJ and Ibaka.
Of those deals the only one I see as possibly being unlikely is Dennis Schroder, is he worth more than the full MLE and if so why team is offering him that?
Im expecting Dennis to have a couple teams offer him the full MLE and him then have the chance to pick which team he’d like to be on. In which case Phoenix would be a good team. Starting position, playoff side, title aspirations…
Bae – is 4.5 this year
Drummond has to make his call before free agency opens so that’s quite the gamble