Deandre Ayton is back with the Phoenix Suns

After a lot of uncertainty regarding the future of Deandre Ayton in Phoenix, the big man is coming back to the Valley.

Big news hit the Phoenix Suns community on Thursday afternoon. The Indian Pacers had submitted an offer sheet to restricted free agent Deandre Ayton to the tune of 4 years, $133 million.

As a restricted free agent, the Suns had 48 hours to either match Ayton’s offer, find a trade partner, or let the young center walk. According to multiple reports, it took mere minutes for the decision to be made and a matching offer was presented to the former 2018 first round pick.

The timeframe from when the Suns received the offer sheet from Indiana and then matched said offer was about three minutes.

— John Gambadoro (@Gambo987) July 15, 2022

Now, after matching Indiana’s offer, Ayton remains a Phoenix Sun until at least January 15 which is the first day he could be eligible for a trade under the new deal. Even beyond that date, the Suns cannot move Ayton without his consent for a full year.

Ayton’s been Eatin’ with the Suns

Since being drafted with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 Draft, Ayton has slowly evolved into a good-to-great starting center in the league. Over four seasons he has been in the Top 20 for 2-pt field goals three times (2018-19, 2020-21, 2021-22) and in the Top 15 for total rebounds twice (2018-19, 2020-21).

In 2021-22, Ayton averaged 17.2 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. His career average is not far behind at 16.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, but it is on the defensive side of the ball where Ayton has been the most impactful. His presence on defense was a large part of the record setting 64-18 finish to the season that the Suns just enjoyed.

In the most recent playoffs run, Ayton was besting his regular season averages at almost 18 ppg but he mysteriously disappeared in the Western Conference semifinals and spent the majority of Game 7 on the bench. A perplexing move that has still not found a satisfactory answer leading to a good deal of speculation that all is not well between 2021-22 Coach of the Year Monty Williams and his young star.

James Jones playing 3-D chess

Much was made over the last few months about the unwillingness of James Jones, the general manager of the Phoenix Suns, to pay top-dollar for Ayton. Instead of immediately jumping into negotiations during the season, Jones let thing set for a while. The Suns could have offered a max deal of 4 years, $138 million but continued to delay and waited until another offer rolled in.

When the Indiana Pacers, who have been very interested in pairing Ayton with Tyrese Haliburton, offered a $133 million deal the Suns did not hesitate to match. That leads one to believe that the Suns wanted Ayton back all along and by biding their time ended up saving a chunk of change.

Regardless of motivation, it is clear that the Suns did not want to let a big investment like Ayton walk out the door without getting anything in return. Whether that means continuing to benefit from his talent until midseason 2022-23 and packaging a trade that sends him elsewhere or finding a way to clear whatever potential bad air there is in his relationship with Monty remains to be seen.