Suns Notes: Payne, Paul, Booker, Ayton
After turning in a couple big performances in the first two games of the Western Conference Finals – both Suns wins – Cameron Payne was forced to leave Game 3 on Thursday after playing just four minutes. The veteran point guard suffered a sprained left ankle, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes.
With Payne unavailable, the Suns leaned heavily on Chris Paul, who logged 39 minutes in his first game back after clearing the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Head coach Monty Williams admitted after the game that he didn’t plan to play Paul so much and that he’s hopeful Payne will be available for Game 4 on Saturday to back up the team’s All-NBA point guard.
“Not having Cam to spell Chris put us in a bit of a bind,” Williams said, per McMenamin. “So hopefully (Payne) can come back and play in the next game.”
Here’s more on the Suns:
- Paul, who spent eight days in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, said he got the bad news last week from Suns senior director of health and performance Brady Howe, according to McMenamin. “I was laying in bed with my kids and got a text from Brady,” Paul said. “It is what it is. I dealt with it. Anybody with kids, anytime you’re going through something, the hardest part is being away from your kids and your family. Once you get over the shock of what’s happening, to hell with how and why. You just start figuring out how you can get better.”
- After breaking his nose in Game 2 of the Western Finals, Devin Booker received eight shots of a numbing agent and had his nose reset back into place prior to Game 3, says McMenamin. Booker had to wear a face mask in Game 3 and struggled mightily, making just 5-of-21 shots from the floor, but he said he wasn’t affected by the injury or the mask. “The nose feels fine,” Booker said. “We just lost the game.”
- The Suns faced some criticism over the years for passing on Luka Doncic with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft, but Deandre Ayton has developed into exactly what the team needed, according to Royce Young of ESPN. “He’s just turning into a really dominant player, on both ends of the floor,” Williams said of his center.
Pacific Notes: Ayton, Paul, Kings, Warriors
Suns center Deandre Ayton is playing in the Western Conference finals three years after being the first selection in the draft, but he tells Marc J. Spears of the Undefeated that most fans don’t see him as an elite player. Ayton had the highlight of his career Tuesday night when he dunked off an inbounds pass in the final second to give Phoenix a 2-0 series lead. It put him in the national spotlight after missing the playoffs during his first two NBA seasons.
“I still think they doubt me. I still think they don’t believe yet,” Ayton said. “I might be turning some heads with people that know basketball, like front-office types, and people that really know the game. I know I am probably stepping into the right direction. But I don’t think the world truly, truly sees that. But if I can win this whole thing, that is where I can get my reputation. That is where I can be a star.”
Although he has been effective since entering the league, Ayton has mostly been overshadowed — by Chris Paul and Devin Booker on the Suns and by Luka Doncic and Trae Young in his draft class. Ayton was suspended for 25 games during his second NBA season and has been criticized for a casual attitude, but he credits the arrival of coach Monty Williams and the success the team had after last year’s restart with turning that around.
“Winning was contagious and we added pieces like (Paul), Jae (Crowder), E’Twaun Moore, Langston Galloway and Torrey Craig,” Ayton said. “Those are guys who have been in the game and played at high levels like this. That is the best way I can think of how I turned my career into a positive one.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The Suns have listed Paul as probable for Thursday’s Game 3, tweets Marc Stein of The New York Times. Paul has missed the first two games of the series while in the league’s health and safety protocols, but he expects to receive clearance to play tomorrow.
- The Kings need more help than the draft can provide, so they should be aggressive about trying to get Ben Simmons from the Sixers, contends Jason Jones of The Athletic. He suggests offering Buddy Hield or Marvin Bagley III along with the No. 9 pick.
- The Warriors have two selections in this year’s lottery, and president of basketball operations Bob Myers won’t say if he plans to hold onto both of them, per Kendra Andrews of NBC Sports. Golden State already has one development project in center James Wiseman and may not have room for two rookies as it hopes to get back into title contention. “We’re not trying to develop players at the risk of losing,” Myers said. “We’re not going to develop and have it cost us games. That’s not the plan.”
Chris Paul Expected To Decline Player Option
Suns point guard Chris Paul intends to turn down his player option for the 2021/22 season in order to seek a new contract, multiple sources tell Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. Opting out will make Paul an unrestricted free agent this summer.
[RELATED: NBA Player Option Decisions For 2021/22]
The value of that ’21/22 option is $44.2MM, which is more than Paul has ever earned in a single season and would be one of the highest salaries in the NBA. A year or two ago, the 36-year-old was considered a virtual lock to pick up that option. But back-to-back All-Star seasons in Oklahoma City and Phoenix have buoyed his stock, putting him in position to secure one last multiyear deal.
Pincus suggests that Paul might be seeking a contract in the range of $100MM over three years. Essentially, he’d be taking the same route that Gordon Hayward did a year ago, or that Al Horford did in 2019 — turning down an option and accepting a slightly lesser short-term salary, but adding more years to his contract and substantially increasing the overall guarantee.
It’s possible that Paul’s plans could change between now and his decision deadline on August 1. Pincus notes that it’s unclear whether CP3’s recent shoulder injury might alter his thinking, for example.
However, even after re-injuring that right shoulder in Game 5, Paul seemed relatively “OK,” as head coach Monty Williams confirmed after Tuesday’s game (Twitter link via Gina Mizell). He’s listed as probable for Game 6 on Thursday night, and there’s no expectation he won’t play, so I imagine it would take a more serious injury for him to seriously consider changing course and picking up his option.
Given the success they’ve had with Paul this season, the Suns will almost certainly push to re-sign the veteran guard if and when he opts out. Phoenix has the cap flexibility to accommodate a new deal for CP3, though the club will face a number of major contract decisions this offseason and may be wary of tacking on too many years, with Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges up for extensions.
Multiple sources told Pincus they believe Ayton is worth the max, while Bridges could be in line for a salary in the range of $20MM per year.
Suns Notes: Ayton, Payne, Booker, Paul
Suns center Deandre Ayton is enjoying his first playoff experience, even though his team has lost two straight games to the Lakers, writes Rachel Gossen of Arizona Sports 98.7. Ayton led Phoenix with 22 points and 11 rebounds in Game 3 and is averaging 21.7 PPG and 12.3 RPG throughout the series.
The first pick in the 2018 draft suffered through a lot of losing before getting a shot at the postseason. The Suns began to turn things around with an 8-0 record during last summer’s restart and carried that momentum into a No.2 seed this season.
“It’s a big opportunity that we’re in the playoffs,” Ayton said. “We showed that the work that we’ve all put in, the stuff that we’ve went through, the adversity that we’ve went over, it brought us here. Now it’s just time to maintain and just play the best basketball we can play at the highest level.”
There’s more on the Suns:
- Cameron Payne has been a surprise in the series, scoring eight of his 19 points in the fourth quarter of Game 2 and 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter of Game 3, notes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. But even with Payne’s outburst, the Phoenix bench has been disappointing, providing just 26.7 PPG in the playoffs after averaging 37.0 during the season. “The bench has won us games this year and I’m looking for that right now,” coach Monty Williams said. “Every good playoff team has a game or two where the bench comes in and sustains or increases the momentum.”
- Devin Booker won’t be suspended for his Flagrant 2 foul on Dennis Schröder late in Game 3, Rankin tweets. Booker was ejected for shoving Schröder to the ground on a drive to the basket. “That wasn’t a basketball play,” Schröder said, “and regular season, it’s probably a suspension as well.”
- Chris Paul is listed as questionable on the Suns’ injury report for Game 4, according to NBA writer Gina Mizell (Twitter link). Paul sat out practice today with soreness in his left shoulder and has been limited since a collision in Game 1.
Suns Notes: Paul, Jones, Sarver, Ayton
Suns guard Chris Paul suffered a right shoulder contusion during the team’s Game 1 victory over the Lakers on Sunday, but he was able to return to the game and later expressed optimism about his status going forward.
Speaking to reporters after the game (video link via The Arizona Republic), Paul downplayed the injury, declaring that he’ll “be all right.” Asked about whether he thinks he’ll be available to play in Game 2, the veteran point guard replied, “Absolutely.”
Here’s more on the Suns:
- In a feature for Sports Illustrated, Rohan Nadkarni takes a closer look at how Suns general manager James Jones turned a perennial lottery team into a legit contender just two years after assuming control of the team’s front office. “You know, we talk about ceilings a lot, but the first goal was to raise the floor,” Jones said of his approach to building the roster. “I wanted us to stay grounded. It was important not to get far ahead of ourselves and have our guys thinking so far in advance. You take one step at a time, and every time you take a step you raise the floor.”
- Speaking to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic, Suns owner Robert Sarver admitted that this year’s team exceeded his expectations. Sarver said the team entered the season hoping to vie for a top-four seed in the West, which he viewed “a challenging goal, but obtainable.” Phoenix finished with the NBA’s second-best record.
- Former No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton tells Shams Charania of The Athletic that he wants “to be certified as the best young two-way center who’s ever played the game.” However, with the Suns pushing for a title this season, Ayton – who averaged a career-low 14.4 PPG in 2020/21 – has been happy to take a step back on offense and play the role the team has asked of him. “Me playing like this, changing my play style and sacrificing certain things that I’m known for, that’s fine. Once it’s with winning, I’m perfectly fine,” Ayton said. “Everybody can eat, everybody is OK. I’m perfectly fine with it. I’m just a competitor, man, I love to compete and play with my teammates and love to be coached. Knowing what I do and what I sacrifice leads to wins, I’m happy.”
Western Notes: Ayton, Warriors, Suns, Bridges, Murray
Suns star Chris Paul praised third-year center Deandre Ayton for changing his game and adapting to a new role with the team, Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic tweets.
Despite a decrease in his overall numbers, Ayton has improved his activity on both ends of the court, serving as a valuable screen-setter and rebounder for the top-ranked team in the league.
Paul, a 16-year veteran, mentioned that every player on Phoenix has grown this season, though none quite like Ayton. The former first overall pick has served as a key cog in the team’s success and has accepted the idea of starring in his complementary role, averaging 14.8 points and 10.7 rebounds per game.
There’s more out of the Western Conference tonight:
- The Warriors‘ loss to the Timberwolves on Thursday was their most consequential defeat of the season, Anthony Slater of The Athletic writes, noting that the result negatively impacted both the Dubs’ playoff position and the Wolves’ lottery position. Golden State lost the contest 126-114 (and was out-rebounded by 23), though the team bounced back on Saturday to defeat Houston 113-87.
- The Suns could be facing a sizable money crunch soon, Zach Lowe of ESPN notes. Star guard Devin Booker is under a maximum-salary contract, veteran Chris Paul owns a $44.2MM player option for next season and both Ayton and Mikal Bridges will be eligible for extensions this summer. Rival executives believe Bridges’s next contract may approach $20MM per season, Lowe reports.
- Nuggets guard Jamal Murray reunited with his team and offered an inspiring message on Saturday, Mike Singer of the Denver Post writes. Murray suffered a torn ACL last month and re-emphasized that the team still has one major goal: win the championship. “You just felt the energy lift when he walked in,” teammate PJ Dozier said. “We cheered for him. Just good to have our brother back. Good to see him, see him doing well at that. We just wanted to make sure his spirits were high.”
Pacific Notes: Morris, Schneider, Ayton, Haliburton
Clippers power forward Marcus Morris has thrived across the 16 games he has played since replacing Nicolas Batum in the team’s starting lineup, as Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times details. Los Angeles is 13-3 since head coach Tyronn Lue made the change.
Ahead of tonight’s 126-115 victory over the Pacers, Morris had been connecting on 48.8% on his 6.2 three-pointers a night and 51% overall from the floor since taking over as a starter.
My production is the same, minutes (have) been the same,” Batum said of the switch. “But Marcus has been great for us. He has been even better since he has been starting.”
There’s more out of the Pacific Division:
- The Warriors have announced (Twitter link) that Brandon Schneider will replace departing Rick Welts as Golden State’s president and COO when the latter retires at the end of the 2020/21 season. Schneider has served as the Warriors’ chief revenue officer since 2018, and has spent 19 seasons with Golden State overall.
- Suns center Deandre Ayton has been a big, but subtle, contributor to the club’s newfound success this season, writes Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic. Though he is known more for his scoring and rebounding, Ayton has been able to juggle his impressive skill set with a growing defensive game and improved screening.
- Kings rookie shooting guard Tyrese Haliburton acknowledged his frustration over his team’s current seven-game losing streak, according to James Ham of NBC Sports California. “We know we’re better than this, we’ve proven we’re better than this throughout the year,” Haliburton said. “But obviously, consistency has plagued us our whole season.” With a 22-32 record, the Kings are currently four games behind the tenth-seeded Warriors for a chance at a play-in tournament berth.
Suns Pick Up 2021/22 Options On Ayton, Bridges, Johnson
The Suns have exercised their fourth-year team options on the rookie scale contracts of Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges, along with the third-year option on Cameron Johnson‘s rookie deal, per RealGM’s log of official NBA transactions.
All three options apply to the 2021/22 season, guaranteeing each player’s salary for that year. Ayton’s option is worth $12.63MM, Bridges’ is for $5.56MM, and Johnson’s has a value of $4.44MM.
None of the decisions came as a surprise, as all three players have established themselves as promising young contributors in Phoenix.
Ayton, the former No. 1 overall pick, averaged 18.2 PPG, 11.5 RPG, and 1.5 BPG in 38 games (32.5 MPG) in 2019/20 after serving a 25-game suspension to start the season for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy. He’ll be eligible for a rookie scale extension in 2021.
Bridges, who will also be extension-eligible next year, recorded 9.1 PPG, 4.0 RPG, and 1.4 SPG with a solid .510/.361/.844 shooting line in 73 games (28.0 MPG) last season. He moved into Phoenix’s starting lineup later in the season, including for the team’s 8-0 run during the summer restart.
Johnson, the 11th pick in the 2019 draft, averaged 8.8 PPG and knocked down 39.0% of his three-point tries in 57 games (22.0 MPG) as a rookie. The Suns will have to decide next year whether to exercise his $5.89MM fourth-year option for 2022/23.
Pacific Notes: CP3, Suns, Clippers, Ibaka, Morris, Warriors
At age 35, Chris Paul is more than a decade older than Suns cornerstone players Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton. However, the star point guard doesn’t plan to simply be the veteran mentor on a young Phoenix roster — he made it clear during his first media session this week that he also wants to help the team get back to the postseason, as Royce Young of ESPN writes.
“Everyone always talks about what I can teach (Booker) or teach some of these other guys, but they’re teaching me at the same time too,” Paul said. “I’m not James Naismith by no means. First things first, I’m not just coming in here trying to teach everybody. I’m his teammate. We’re here to hoop, we’re here to compete and that’s how I approach this.”
Meanwhile, Booker and Ayton are excited by the opportunity to team up with a 10-time All-Star like Paul, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic, who says both players were shocked when they first heard about the trade bringing CP3 to Phoenix.
“I wanted to do a backflip,” Ayton said. “You ever seen a seven-footer do a backflip? OK. That’s how excited I was.”
Besides getting an opportunity to play with up-and-coming stars like Booker and Ayton, Paul is looking forward to reuniting with head coach Monty Williams, whom he played for in New Orleans for a single season 10 years ago. Williams said this week that he thinks both he and Paul have “grown a lot” in the last decade.
“I think we both were really headstrong, too, back then,” Williams said, according to Young. “I was walking around like a dictator ready to cut somebody’s head off, trying to implement my way and my program. I don’t think I was really good at allowing him to do what the great ones do. There were times I felt like I took the paintbrush out of (Paul’s) hand.”
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- After chemistry issues helped sink the Clippers last season, head coach Tyronn Lue is confident he’ll be able to hold players accountable in his new role by always being blunt and honest, writes Mirjam Swanson of The Orange County Register. “What I learned from Brian Shaw a long time ago was always tell the truth, whether they like it or not,” Lue said. “Even (back in his playing days) with Kobe and Shaq, just telling those guys the truth. They might not like it, but they respect it.”
- Serge Ibaka‘s friendship with Kawhi Leonard was a factor in his decision to join the Clippers in free agency, he said on Thursday, as Swanson relays in a separate O.C. Register story. “One thing about me and Kawhi is like, there is no ego in our friendship,” Ibaka said. “… I know who he is and he knows as a teammate what I can do for him, for the team and it is make things smoother and easier.”
- Lakers forward Markieff Morris said this week that rumors last month about him potentially teaming up with twin brother Marcus Morris for the Clippers were “just talk,” per Swanson. “They were just trying to scare Lakers fans,” Markieff said.
- Warriors big man Marquese Chriss is confident that there will be plenty of minutes at center to go around around for him, Kevon Looney, and No. 2 overall pick James Wiseman, as Marcus White of NBC Sports Bay Area details.
Pacific Notes: Green, Ayton, Oubre, Lue
Lakers guard Danny Green is confident the team is capable of repeating as NBA champions during the 2020/21 season, Adam Zagoria of Forbes.com writes.
Los Angeles is coming off its first championship since 2010 with superstar performances from LeBron James and Anthony Davis, plus noteworthy production from rotation players such as Green, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Rajon Rondo, Dwight Howard, Kyle Kuzma and Alex Caruso.
“For sure, I think we can definitely get one more for sure,” Green said. “It’s going to be tough because we have so many free agents, with 10 guys that are free agents. Trying to bring everybody back and reconstruct the contracts, it’s going to be difficult, but when you have the nucleus of LeBron and AD — if they bring back AD — that’s pretty much what you need. You don’t need much else around them.”
Among the players set to enter unrestricted free agency are Howard and Markieff Morris, with Rondo and Caldwell-Pope expected to decline their player options and do the same. The others include Davis (who’s expected to re-sign), JaVale McGee ($4.2MM player option), Dion Waiters, J.R. Smith and Jared Dudley. Avery Bradley holds a $5MM player option for next season.
There’s more out of the Pacific Division tonight:
- Suns center Deandre Ayton could prove to be the ultimate difference-maker for the team next season and beyond, Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic writes. Ayton, who turned 22 in July, averaged 18.2 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 38 games last season. He was the team’s No. 1 pick in the 2018 NBA draft.
- Rankin examines five potential trade destinations for Kelly Oubre Jr. in a separate article for The Arizona Republic. Oubre, who’s on an expiring contract for 2020/21, could be used in trade conversations going forward — much like he was around the trade deadline last February. Oubre averaged a career-high 18.7 points per game on 45% shooting this past season.
- Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times examines how the Clippers are relying on Tyronn Lue‘s ‘Midas touch’ going forward. Lue, who is highly respected by players and officials across the league, was recently promoted to head coach with the team after serving as an assistant last season. “I’ve never found anyone that doesn’t just rave about Ty Lue the person,” one league executive told Greif.