Interesting Season Looms For Phoenix After Matching Deandre Ayton's Contract

The Phoenix Suns are still waiting on the trade deal that nets them Kevin Durant and have instead decided to act quickly on retaining their biggest free agent years.

NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Ayton had agreed to a four-year, $133 million max deal with the Indiana Pacers–the largest offer sheet ever offered to a restricted free agent.

It is worth noting that the last time an offer sheet of this caliber was not matched was back in the summer of 2016 when the Dallas Mavericks offered Harrison Barnes a four-year, $96 million deal.

The Suns only needed a few hours to make a decision regarding Ayton as Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium revealed that they are indeed matching the Pacers’ offer.

This does two things for Ayton and the Suns:

• Ayton cannot be traded until January 15th
• The Suns cannot trade him to any team without his consent for a full year

Simply put, it means that Ayton will not be included in a Durant trade this offseason as the Suns will have to find other ways to entice the Brooklyn Nets to let go of him somehow.

Ayton staying in “The Valley” was received favorably by fans since he was a major piece in the franchise’s first NBA Finals appearance since 1993.

Others were skeptical about the Suns matching Ayton’s offer since owner Robert Sarver has had a history of allowing players to walk, most notably Joe Johnson in the summer of 2005.

It seems Sarver has learned from his mistakes then and is now more than willing to foot the luxury tax by matching Ayton’s contract.

There is growing speculation that a move for Durant now seems impossible without trading Ayton, but Suns insider Flex from Jersey has been adamant that whatever happens with the former first overall pick is not going to affect their chase for the versatile scorer.

The Bahamian big man will surely need to mend his relationship with head coach Monty Williams after the pair had their issues during the 2022 NBA playoffs, with Williams benching Ayton and saying that the reasons behind it were “internal.”

Phoenix is not giving up just yet on their hopes of winning its first-ever NBA title and ensuring Ayton stays is a major step towards doing so.

Now it remains to be seen whether Durant does come to Phoenix or not at all.