Deandre Ayton and the Suns may not actually be 'alright'

Phoenix goes sideways real fast.

Good morning.

I hope everyone in the wake and path of Hurricane Ian stays safe!

Let’s basketball.

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Portrait of a Young Woman, Sandro Botticelli, 1480-85

You may recall earlier this offseason that the Phoenix Suns did not immediately offer Deandre Ayton, a very good young center, a max rookie extension. The Suns played the restricted free agency game, let Ayton go find a max offer sheet from another team, which he did, 12 days into a tortuous free agency, from the Indiana Pacers. Then the Suns immediately matched it.

That saga came after Suns coach Monty Williams and Ayton got into a visible confrontation during Phoenix’s humiliating Game 7 loss to the Mavericks last May. A Suns player tested positive for COVID the next day and the team basically didn’t reconvene until recently.

At the time of the contract resolution, in conversation with Andscape’s Marc Spears, Ayton seemed relieved more than anything.

"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. … I'm happy. The process is over. I put all this behind me and focus on chasing a championship this upcoming season with my brothers."

Deandre Ayton no longer seems terribly relieved. He just may have come all the way back around to mad about how he perceives he’s been treated by the hometown club.

Gerald Bourguet @GeraldBourguet

Deandre Ayton said he and Monty Williams have not spoken about their sideline incident in Game 7:

“Are you happy to be here, DA?”

“Yeah, I’m alright.”

Brutal.

The explosive stuff here is that Ayton says he has not spoken to coach Monty Williams since Williams benched Ayton in that disastrous Game 7, a game which seriously may have broken this team. That nightmare ended the Suns’ season, and Ayton became a free agent, so I don’t know what Williams’ standard operation practice is for talking to players 1-on-1 after seasons end when it’s not clear whether said player will be back. But it’s quite surprising that Williams wouldn’t clear the air with Ayton over the course of five freaking months, especially considering reports that Williams has been in the gym observing informal player-led team workouts that Ayton has been participating in.

Even if just to cynically preempt any dirty laundry from hitting the media as reporters swarm back to the gym, you think you’d try to talk it out. Williams, about whom pretty much no one has a bad word to say, didn’t. And here we are.

This is going to super charge discussion on whether Ayton is long for the Suns. I can’t imagine Phoenix will move him this season — first off, his contract makes that extraordinarily difficult to do — but The Discourse often has a real impact on what happens on the court and in the locker room, and folks, this discourse isn’t good for the Suns.

The Suns “won” the business deal over Ayton’s contract — they got what they wanted. This is the downside risk. Williams made his point in his confrontation with Ayton in Game 7. This is the downside risk.

Bad situation, folks!