Deandre Ayton didn’t part ways with the Phoenix Suns on the best of terms, and his relationship with his teammates appeared strained during his final season with the franchise. Ayton and Mikal Bridges famously had a spat during a game against the Washington Wizards in December 2022, and LegendZ on X has now seemingly revealed what they told each other.
Mikal Bridges: “Come on, DA.”
Deandre Ayton: “No, don’t f***ing put this s*** on me, n****.”
Bridges: “The f*** are you doing over there? You’re f***ing playing soft.”
Ayton: “Don’t put this s*** on me.”
Bridges: “You’re playing soft.”
Ayton: “You’re saying bulls***.”
Bridges: “You’re soft.”
Ayton: “You’re sorry as f***. You sound sorry as f***. Weak a** n****.”
Bridges was upset about Ayton not setting a screen on that play and let his teammate know about it. Then-Suns head coach Monty Williams had to step in to defuse the situation during a timeout, but the big man was still heated.
With this clip going viral on social media, it eventually came to Bridges’ attention. The New York Knicks forward made it clear that it’s all love between him and Ayton.
“DA my best friend.”
Bridges had also admitted back then that he was in the wrong on that occasion. Here is what he had to say about the heated exchange with Ayton.
“To do that, I feel like it was embarrassment on just DA’s part because I’m just going at him like that,” Bridges said, “It messed me up. It was f***ed up on my end, and I apologized to him and the team after for it.”
The Suns lost 113-110 to the Wizards that night, but Ayton didn’t get much of the blame for it. He recorded 30 points (12-20 FG), 13 rebounds, and one block, and it was one of his better performances of the campaign.
While Ayton and Bridges could well be on good terms today, that might not be the case when it comes to the other Sun he was clashing with later in the viral video. LegendZ included a clip from Game 5 between the Suns and the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the 2023 NBA playoffs, where Booker was frustrated about all the offensive rebounds they were giving up.
Devin Booker: “How the f*** did they get that s*** back?”
Ayton: “What we doing? Y’all n****s staring at the ball. They outrebounding you. What the f*** we doing? Come on, man.”
What DeAndre Ayton Said To Mikal Bridges In 2023👀:
Ayton: “Don’t f*cking put this sh*t on me”
Bridges: “You f*cking playing soft”
Ayton: “You sound sorry asf, weak a** n****”
Monty Williams intervened, saying: “Just f*cking let that sh*t go”
Booker also couldn’t stand DA. pic.twitter.com/miJXzDY5NU
— LegendZ (@legendz_prod) October 18, 2025
Booker is unlikely to respond the way that Bridges did. He even trolled Ayton during a preseason game between the Suns and the Los Angeles Lakers on Oct. 3. Their relationship certainly looked to have deteriorated a lot in the big man’s final season in Phoenix.
The Suns would trade Ayton, whom they had selected with the first pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, to the Portland Trail Blazers in September 2023. The 27-year-old didn’t exactly shine during his time with the Trail Blazers either, and now finds himself on the Lakers.
There has been talk about this being his last chance, and Ayton isn’t taking anything for granted. It will be interesting to see which version of the big man the Lakers get in 2025-26. Is it going to be the Ayton who shone when the Suns made the NBA Finals in 2021, or is it going to be the one who has been heavily criticized for lack of effort in recent years? Only time will tell.
