NBA Rumors: According to a recent report, the Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs, amongst others, could be landing spots for Deandre Ayton.
After one of the most dominating regular seasons in recent history, the Phoenix Suns‘ season ended prematurely in the Western Conference Semifinals against the Dallas Mavericks in Game 7 on their home floor.
Falling short of winning a championship in back-to-back seasons, the Suns will have some interesting decisions to make this offseason. The most important of such is what to do with Deandre Ayton, who will be a restricted free agent this offseason.
Ayton and the Suns didn’t reach a contract extension last offseason and there’s no guarantee that anything will be different in contract discussions between the two sides this offseason. At the very least, it slightly opens the door for his departure this summer.
And according to a recent report, under the assumption that there’s a chance that Ayton could leave the Suns, there will be plenty of suitors. A few that have already been mentioned are the Atlanta Hawks, Detroit Pistons, Portland Trail Blazers, and San Antonio Spurs.
"[via Bleacher Report]“Now, there are three teams most often linked by league personnel as Ayton’s potential suitors on the open market: Atlanta, Detroit and Portland,” Fischer reported. “Multiple team executives also pointed to Charlotte, with a clear hole at center, and San Antonio, one of the few teams with significant cap space, as possible landing spots for Ayton.”"
There’s no question that Ayton will be a hot commodity if he were to hit the open market. And the Suns would have all the power in this situation; as a restricted free agent, the Suns could match any offer he signs.
Ayton is just 23 years old and is coming off a season in which he averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds per game on 63 percent shooting from the floor. He’s, for the most part, a good defender, one of the best rim runners in the league, and can hit a jump shot on occasion.
He’s what you want in the modern big, but may not be the direction the Suns want to go (perhaps not for the price of a max contract). If that is indeed the case, there’s a team out there that’s going to get a steal in restricted free agency – a rarity in the NBA.