Ayton, a key part of the Suns' run to the 2021 NBA Finals, held firm on wanting a full, five-year, max contract -- which would've been worth a guaranteed $172.5 million plus possible escalators -- but talks never progressed to the Suns making a formal offer on a max deal ahead of Monday's 6 p.m. ET deadline, sources told ESPN.
In recent weeks, Phoenix raised the concept of a shorter maximum contract deal -- perhaps over three or four years instead of the full five years -- but never formally made the offer or broached the idea again, sources said.
So, as I gathered all along, the Suns did not offer Ayton any kind of max, not even the base max of $172.5M with no escalators. At best they were willing to discuss a 3 or 4 year max at one point.
In fact, the Phoenix Suns did not make any contract extension offer to Deandre Ayton whatsoever. Not even a penny was actually offered to him.
That's what Gambo thought a couple weeks ago.
Last edited by JeremyG on Mon Oct 18, 2021 3:37 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"I'm a Deandre Ayton guy."--Al McCoy, September 21, 2022.
Sometimes I think people forget that we still get Ayton this year, regardless of his extension situation.
AND CAN MATCH ANYTHING HE GETS OFFERED NEXT YEAR
As Gambo just said, Jones is not going to keep someone around that doesn't want to be here. If Ayton says, "Don't match it, I don't want to be here" then Jones will let him leave.
I don't understand why it is so hard for people to understand this, after it's already happened to Sarver once.
I really hope we are awesome this year or this will be a long season discussing Ayton’s contract.
I'm mentally preparing myself now for every interview between a suns player or coach and any national media figure to circle back to the DA contract situation... for the next 7-8 months... because you know they will.
Not if they consistently refuse to talk about it.
"Too little, too late, too unbothered."
- Phoenix Suns 2023-2024 season motto.
Ayton, a key part of the Suns' run to the 2021 NBA Finals, held firm on wanting a full, five-year, max contract -- which would've been worth a guaranteed $172.5 million plus possible escalators -- but talks never progressed to the Suns making a formal offer on a max deal ahead of Monday's 6 p.m. ET deadline, sources told ESPN.
In recent weeks, Phoenix raised the concept of a shorter maximum contract deal -- perhaps over three or four years instead of the full five years -- but never formally made the offer or broached the idea again, sources said.
So, as I gathered all along, the Suns did not offer Ayton any kind of max, not even the base max of $172.5M with no escalators. At best they were willing to discuss a 3 or 4 year max at one point.
In fact, the Phoenix Suns did not make any contract extension offer to Deandre Ayton whatsoever. Not even a penny was actually offered to him.
That's what Gambo thought a couple weeks ago.
Another quote from the article:
Phoenix now faces an uncertain future with Ayton. The franchise center is unhappy with the franchise's consistent stance to his representatives that the organization simply didn't foresee him as a max player -- regardless of which of his peers in the 2018 NBA Draft class earned max deals this offseason, sources said.
And:
Throughout the conversations, the Suns' stance had been consistently been the organization didn't believe Ayton was a max player -- a value assessment that's been met with surprise elsewhere in the league.
They simply didn't see him as a max player--with or without escalators. It is disrespect of their first ever #1 draft pick. Period.
Last edited by JeremyG on Mon Oct 18, 2021 3:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"I'm a Deandre Ayton guy."--Al McCoy, September 21, 2022.
Ayton, a key part of the Suns' run to the 2021 NBA Finals, held firm on wanting a full, five-year, max contract -- which would've been worth a guaranteed $172.5 million plus possible escalators -- but talks never progressed to the Suns making a formal offer on a max deal ahead of Monday's 6 p.m. ET deadline, sources told ESPN.
In recent weeks, Phoenix raised the concept of a shorter maximum contract deal -- perhaps over three or four years instead of the full five years -- but never formally made the offer or broached the idea again, sources said.
So, as I gathered all along, the Suns did not offer Ayton any kind of max, not even the base max of $172.5M with no escalators. At best they were willing to discuss a 3 or 4 year max at one point.
In fact, the Phoenix Suns did not make any contract extension offer to Deandre Ayton whatsoever. Not even a penny was actually offered to him.
That's what Gambo thought a couple weeks ago.
You can phrase it like that if you want, but all this tells me is Ayton was firmly in the full max or nothing camp. No reason to make an offer if you know it’s declined already. They tried to broach the subject of a 3 or 4 year max and were shut down. What point is making an offer then?
Last edited by Split T on Mon Oct 18, 2021 3:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ayton, a key part of the Suns' run to the 2021 NBA Finals, held firm on wanting a full, five-year, max contract -- which would've been worth a guaranteed $172.5 million plus possible escalators -- but talks never progressed to the Suns making a formal offer on a max deal ahead of Monday's 6 p.m. ET deadline, sources told ESPN.
In recent weeks, Phoenix raised the concept of a shorter maximum contract deal -- perhaps over three or four years instead of the full five years -- but never formally made the offer or broached the idea again, sources said.
So, as I gathered all along, the Suns did not offer Ayton any kind of max, not even the base max of $172.5M with no escalators. At best they were willing to discuss a 3 or 4 year max at one point.
In fact, the Phoenix Suns did not make any contract extension offer to Deandre Ayton whatsoever. Not even a penny was actually offered to him.
That's what Gambo thought a couple weeks ago.
Another quote from the article:
Phoenix now faces an uncertain future with Ayton. The franchise center is unhappy with the franchise's consistent stance to his representatives that the organization simply didn't foresee him as a max player -- regardless of which of his peers in the 2018 NBA Draft class earned max deals this offseason, sources said.
They simply didn't see him as a max player--with or without escalators. It is disrespect of their first ever #1 draft pick. Period.
Who cares that he was the #1 pick. Should have zero bearing in the discussion. And I disagree with the notion that not seeing someone as a max guy is disrespectful.
The "max contract" term seems to still be vague as per these reports. We might have offered a 3 or 4 year "max" of 133mil or even 175mil while DA's side only wanted a "max contract" - meaning $200+ like Luka and Trae got. Until more details come out, we just don't know. If DA's side was deadset on the "max max" of $200+, I don't think the Suns/Sarver look that bad. But I don't know what DA's side would gain going all in on a $200mil deal.
The "max contract" term seems to still be vague as per these reports. We might have offered a 3 or 4 year "max" of 133mil or even 175mil while DA's side only wanted a "max contract" - meaning $200+ like Luka and Trae got. Until more details come out, we just don't know. If DA's side was deadset on the "max max" of $200+, I don't think the Suns/Sarver look that bad. But I don't know what DA's side would gain going all in on a $200mil deal.
I am betting that what you said earlier probably happened. They said, "look, we don't see you as that $207M man. But we know you are valuable, and we want you here. All of your teammates took less money to stay here, including Book. So we will give you more than the other teams can offer you next year, but not the 207M. We will give you the 4 year at 135, which again is more than anyone can offer you next summer. What do you say?"
I keep thinking about this too. If Ayton expressed frustration in how he was utilized in the postseason and isn’t going to accept that role again…then how exactly can the Suns commit a max deal to him not even knowing what role he’s going to play?
We also keep seeing his "peers" being referenced - his peers being the other top 5 picks Luke and Trae, not the lower lotto picks SGA and MPJ. It's relates accordingly in terms of salary. That's the "respect" he's looking for. He's not worth $207 tho. Not by a long shot. Sorry if that hurts anyone's feelings.
Another reason to have gotten it done is that I think Ayton at the max is still a very tradeable contract.
But he's Brook Lopez, apparently. And he's not consistent enough during the regular season. And extremely efficient and talented 7ft players that don't require ball dominance to impact the game grow on trees, apparently.
They kinda do actually. Remember Richaun Holmes? Athletic 7 footers can hang around for years in the nba on that fact alone. Of course Ayton is on the higher end of these guys, but nothing he’s doing is earth shattering. Rudy Gobert is also an incredibly efficient 7ft that doesn’t require ball dominance. So was Tyson Chandler. DeAndre Jordan. Clint Capela. I want more if I’m paying 200 million dollars
He's already shown way more offensive skill than those players. Why punish him for making him sacrifice his scoring/touches for Monty's system?
Also, show me Tyson Chandler's 24-point quarter.
THIS. People don't seem to understand the amount of sacrifice Ayton makes. It's no wonder he has lapses. He goes long stretches without a touch. He's the 4th option on most plays. He's shown he can dominate if he's one of the regular 2 or 3 options on offense but Monty's system asks him to sacrifice. "See, he's putting up middle of the road points her game. He's replaceable. He's Richaun Holmes". GTFO with that nonsense.
What is smallball? I play basketball. I'm not a regular big man. I can switch from the center to the guards. The game is evolving. I'd be dominAyton if the WNBA would let me in. - Ayton
The simplest way to look at this is, we had a team that got to the Finals and was 2 games away from a title. We could have locked that team up and kept them together for the next 3-4 years to make runs at titles together, and ALL WE HAD TO DO was simply re-sign our existing talent to fair market value. But instead, we have chosen to fuck around and lowball a key player in the interest of saving Robert Sarver some money.
I can't believe we are willing to shoot ourselves in the foot like this. It'd be one thing if we were a young team that hadn't won anything; we'd be asking ourselves whether Ayton could perform at a higher level, whether this core is capable of contending. But WE JUST SAW IT. Exactly how many dollars you think Ayton deserves pales in comparison to the indisputable fact that we just saw that this team is capable of getting all the way to the finish line for a title. Why wouldn't you keep that together? Why risk fouling it all up by doing something like this?
