Phoenix Suns' Game 7 Collapse May Have Been Overblown By Outside Observers

The Phoenix Suns and Deandre Ayton appear to have mended the rift that seemed to grow between them after the franchise matched the offer that he received from the Indiana Pacers.

Many Suns fans were concerned that Ayton was leaving the franchise this offseason after extension talks were stalled and due to the issues that seemed to bubble up between the Bahamian center and 2022 NBA Coach of the Year Monty Williams.

However, Suns insider John Gambadoro reported soon after the Suns received the Pacers’ offer sheet that it only took them three minutes to match it.

Suns general manager James Jones was also reported to have told the 2018 Bo. 1 overall pick as early as July 1 that they have always been planning to re-sign him, and that the only reason why they did not offer a max contract was due to “negotiations” as he told ESPN’s Andscape.

“We wanted Deandre [Ayton] here. He's vital to what we do, at the core of everything that we do. … [I]f if there's any doubt from anyone that we wanted him, I think that the matching did that. It was urgent for us. It was important,” Jones said as quoted by Marc J. Spears of ESPN

With regards to Ayton and his issues with Williams, the coach told Andscape that their Game 7 collapse against the Dallas Mavericks was due to them having a “bad day.”

“I didn't feel like I had to say anything. I was just doing my job. We had a bad day, but we had an unbelievable season. Unfortunately, in sports and even in society, we focus on the one bad thing. It hurt like crazy, and it still hurts,” Williams noted in the same Spears piece.

“It was embarrassing to play that way, but as the dust settles and I look at the season from a holistic perspective, I look at all the good stuff that happened. You may not like what everybody talking about, but nonetheless, we're a team that has expectations and so it just goes with the territory.”

Ayton echoed his coach’s sentiments about Game 7 against the Mavericks, admitting that they “let that get away from us as a team” and how it is now all in the past.

It is the first time that anyone in the franchise has directly spoken about the disappointing exit as it truly was the lowest point in what their fans believed to be a straight-line drive to an NBA Finals.

Ayton and Williams’ relationship may be on the mend after publicly addressing the issues each other had at the time.

It has since become clear that many were reading too much into Williams’ comments about his benching Ayton being an “internal” matter.

Whether the Suns get Kevin Durant via trade or not this offseason, what matters most to the fanbase is that they have the center of their future locked up for the next four years as they look to continue their 54-year journey towards winning their first NBA title.