Deandre Ayton’s future with the Phoenix Suns looked bleak over the last few weeks. Despite playing a crucial role in the Suns’ success over the last two seasons, the franchise was ready to let him go.
The Suns were originally planning to put together a trade package around him in order to get Kevin Durant from the Brooklyn Nets. But since Ayton ended up signing a max offer sheet, the Suns had no other choice than to match that offer sheet.
As a result, Ayton has now returned to the Phoenix Suns after signing a 4-year $133 million max contract. NBA analyst Adrian Wojnarowski mentioned it meant the Suns are officially out of the race to land Kevin Durant.
After signing the max contract with the Suns, Ayton went on to share his true feelings about all the drama he had faced around his return to the franchise.
Via ESPN:
“This is a blessing. This contract not only has generational impact for my family, but also with the way we are able to work in the Phoenix community and home in the Bahamas. That is the things that we go by … I’ve come to understand that this is a business. So, I was more anxious to know the end of the result so I could focus, move on and just get back to work. I just treated everything like a business. Just keep being professional, approach everything with professionalism and not looking too deep into it.”
While this contract is indeed a blessing for Ayton and his family, it taught him a great lesson as well. At the end of the day, it’s just business.
If the Suns truly wanted him back, they could have offered him a 5-year $179.6 million deal as well. But the Suns waited out and, in the end, were forced to sign him to a 4-year deal only.
