Deandre Ayton is one of the league’s best centers, putting up 17.2 PPG, 10.2 RPG, and 1.4 APG for the Phoenix Suns during the 2021-22 season. There is no doubt that he is capable of impacting a game on both ends of the floor, and he has shown promise when given a higher usage rate.
The Phoenix Suns have recently matched a max contract offer from the Indiana Pacers for Deandre Ayton. That was clearly a good move for the franchise, as they would have been forced to let Deandre Ayton leave for nothing if they were to not match the contract given to him by the Pacers.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN has noted that the Phoenix Suns never made Deandre Ayton a max contract offer prior to the Indiana Pacers giving him an offer sheet, which he then suggested meant that the team “didn’t value him as a max player”.
Namakian of Innovate Sports and Duffy of BDA Sports and WME had insisted to the Suns that they could find a maximum contract offer for Ayton in the marketplace, and they are now delivering it with the offer sheet. The Suns had never made Ayton a max offer, suggesting they didn’t value him as a max player.
It is unfortunate that Deandre Ayton had to wait this long to get his max contract. While Ayton’s production isn’t quite at that max-player level, he still has a lot of potential, and could potentially become a max-level player in the future. He is the type of player that a team should absolutely take a risk on.
In 2021, the Phoenix Suns made the NBA Finals, and Deandre Ayton was a huge part of making that happen. Hopefully, Deandre Ayton can help them get back to that stage, and we’ll see how well he performs next season.
