NBA Rumors: The Phoenix Suns and Deandre Ayton aren’t seeing eye-to-eye.
Coming off a trip to the NBA Finals, falling just two wins short of the franchise’s first championship in history, the Phoenix Suns are on the shortlist of teams that could win the Western Conferene this season.
However, some of that feel-good has taken a bit of a hit recently.
According to a recent report, the Suns and Deandre Ayton aren’t exactly seeing eye-to-eye when it comes to extension talks. Ayton wants a max extension and the Suns aren’t exactly willing to extend that offer. At least not at the time being.
"[via ESPN]The Phoenix Suns’ reluctance to offer a maximum rookie contract extension to 2018 No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton has stalled discussions on a deal, sources told ESPN on Tuesday."
During the offseason, the Suns agreed to a contract extension with Chris Paul worth $120 million. Phoenix then had to work on extensions for both Ayton and Mikal Bridges. At least thus far, neither has agreed to one.
And based on this recent information, perhaps neither will ahead of the season. Though, it wouldn’t be ideal to head into the next offseason with both Ayton and Bridges as restricted free agents.
Specifically for Ayton, an argument can be made for both sides – that he deserves a max extension for the role he played in the playoffs last season and that he perhaps isn’t worth that type of money – especially considering the money the Suns have already shelled out with Booker’s extension (and likely his next one) and Paul’s.
Ayton averaged 16 points and 12 rebounds per game on 66 percent shooting from the field during the postseason last year and became a legit third star next to Paul and Booker. The big question that the Suns have to ask themselves is whether or not they believe that he’s irreplaceable on the roster.
Ultimately, I believe this is more of a negotiating tactic more than anything. At the end of the day, the Suns will still have the ability to match any free-agent offer he will get next summer if it came to that.
The Suns and Ayton will eventually agree to an extension. Could it come at the expense of a player such as Bridges, perhaps? But that’s the business in the NBA when you have three stars on the roster.