10:17am: Ayton won’t agree to a deal worth less than the 25% max, with Rose Rule language included to potentially push the starting salary up to 30% of the cap, tweets John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7. Based on current cap projections for 2022/23, that would mean a five-year extension worth about $172MM, or up to $207MM if Ayton makes the All-NBA team this season.
As noted below, Porter and the Nuggets technically agreed to those terms while also including a more team-friendly partially guaranteed fifth year. If Ayton is open to a similar structure, perhaps that’s an area where the two sides could compromise. If not, it may simply come down to whether or not the Suns are willing to meet his asking price.
9:23am: The Suns and center Deandre Ayton have reached an impasse in their contract negotiations, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who reports that the team is reluctant to offer the former No. 1 pick a maximum-salary rookie scale extension.
The Suns and Ayton have until October 18 to work out an agreement that locks up the 23-year-old long-term, but the two sides disagree on his value. As Wojnarowski explains, the Suns’ ownership group doesn’t believe Ayton is at the same level as other players who have received maximum-salary rookie scale extensions this offseason, including Luka Doncic, Trae Young, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
[RELATED: 2021/22 NBA Contract Extension Tracker]
Ayton’s representatives, on the other hand, are adamant that the young center is worthy of the same sort of investment those other young stars received, based on his performance to date and his potential going forward.
Ayton’s 14.4 PPG in 2020/21 was the lowest mark of his career, but he averaged double-digit rebounds (10.5 RPG) for a third straight season, made a career-best 62.6% of his shots from the field, and improved as a defender. His modest scoring numbers were a result of his willingness to accept a reduced role on offense following the arrival of Chris Paul to Phoenix. Ayton had averaged 18.2 PPG in ’19/20.
As Wojnarowski writes, the Suns probably won’t risk losing Ayton even if they’re unable to complete an extension before the regular season begins. He’d still be eligible for restricted free agency next summer, at which point the team could either match any offer sheet he signs or – like the Hawks did with John Collins this offseason – negotiate a new deal with him directly.
Still, coming off their unlikely run to the NBA Finals, the Suns won’t want to risk upsetting any of their key players as they continue to push for a title. Wojnarowski points out that Ayton’s development and maturity has hinged largely on the trust he has built with head coach Monty Williams over the last two years. His faith in the organization could waver if he feels as if he’s not being fairly valued.
It’s possible the two sides could reach a compromise similar to the one the Nuggets reached with Michael Porter Jr. While Porter received a max extension, only $12MM of the $39MM+ cap hit in year five of his deal is guaranteed — MPJ can ensure it becomes fully guaranteed by meeting certain performance criteria over the life of the contract. It’s unclear if the Suns and/or Ayton would be open to similar terms.
The Suns remain under the luxury tax line for 2021/22, but could be a taxpayer in future years if they’re committed to keeping their core together. Besides Ayton, starting forward Mikal Bridges is also up for a rookie scale extension and the expectation is that Bridges’ new deal could exceed $20MM per year.
Michael Porter jr extension is $207 million,
How about Ayton?
Porter is injury prone
Nowhere close to that amount is guaranteed. It’s really a $145m or so extension. If he gets more than that, the Nuggets will be overjoyed because that means he stayed healthy and was at an All-NBA level.
Definitely not in the Trae Luka conversation though
Only Luka has really proved he’s earned that much $ so far.
It’s a business until someone feels “disrespected” then it quickly becomes personal like the Simmons situation. Players blather on about it being a business but there is also a large relationship component. Hope neither side takes the low road.
Ayton still has a lot to prove. This is the right move by the Suns
What happened if Ayton had played for Knicks?
They would have traded or benched him.
Capela Money at best is prob what they offered.
On Ayton: His shooting % which are more important than the counting numbers have basically improved for 3 consecutive years (or in FG% 3rd year being career high), aside from points. When Paul came in he was asked to take fewer shots as the ball distribution changed. Ayton took 5 fewer shots while significantly improving his FG %. All players should be about winning but I hope during the negotiations they don’t bring up his dip in scoring to justify giving him less of an offer. Would mind if suck to ask him to sacrifice shots for the sake of the team then use that against him.
On Trae: I like Trae but he’s actually a bit overrated. His assists are high but he’s the definition of a volume shooter (43% FG/34% 3pt) and a guy who really shouldn’t be throwing up as many 3s as he did in 19-20.
I think you’re ignoring shot quality considerations. His PPG are down even though his percentage is up. He’s taking substantially less attempts. Without looking I’d wager they are much better quality attempts. This might have a lot to do with having a Chris Paul on his team. I think the increase in his shooting percentages says more about how Ayton is being used than any improvement by him… And… If he is best used in a limited role…. Why would you pay that player a super max contract? Makes no sense.
@ignasis
His average distance per FG attempt was identical his first 2 seasons at 6.7. Last year it dipped to 5.5. While his shot attempts dropped by 5 almost everyone else’s increased. Obviously Paul has done a great job distributing the ball and since most of the other shooters are shooting 45%, it’s to the benefit of the team. Still, a big shooting 60% from the floor might deserve a few more attempts. Im not knocking the way they play but I hope they don’t use his dip in points AGAINST giving him more money because he sacrificed for the good of the team. I just feel the modern bigd are underfed even if they aren’t the most diversified shooters.
According to Stathead, Chris Paul assisted on 143 of Ayton’s 430 field goals last year, which is over 1/3. In addition, 53% of his field goals where from within 0-3 feet of the basket, up from 46.1% the previous year. On top of that, his shots from 13 feet and beyond were down to 7.4% of his total shots. The previous year was 12.3%.
So there’s definitely a quality of shots thing going on here and a lot of it has to do with Chris Paul.
@rct
you’re making a point not needing to be made. If the Suns use his dip in points as a reason he deserves less then it’s unfortunate because he’s taking less attempts because of Paul’s distribution. I don’t think he NEEDS Paul to score. He shoots from within 5ft for Pete’s sake. And im not advocating for him to get the max max either.
If you’re going to dominate a team’s cap, then you better dominate in the game. Luka is only player in my eyes worthy of the max.
Right now, Paul earns about $41m and Booker $31 mil in 21-22
Ayton is not as good as most of the players his age who signed a max, but will be better than almost every player who doesn’t sign a max. That’s the problem with the max contract.
I was wondering who was going to be the Anthony Davis/James Harden/Ben Simmons of next season. Looks like we have an early front runner.
why so you assume he’ll be disgruntled? he’ll be a RFA.
Why do you assume he won’t be disgruntled? There isn’t much precedent for that in recent times.
Wow kudos to Phoenix for not folding. Paying a center who isn’t mobile(the max) is not a smart move.
I already said a few weeks ago that Ayton’s deep in production, regressed, would have costed him the max, he did so well the first couple seasons… but alas last year was a bad one… & now he won’t be getting the $$$ that he earned in his first 2 years!
No surprise there that PHO are trying to be cheap & sabotage their own boat!
Just pay the man as simple as!
This is pathetic move by Suns. Ayton has been a teamplayer all along and have done exactly what they asked him to do. And he had amazing postseason that Suns are taking for granted. Not only that, everone is always either yelling or blaming Ayton when things dont go well. He is the 2nd best player on the team amd definitely not expendable. Paul was the one who should have taken a pay cut, or not signed. You can bet he will get hurt and be injury proned.
A few days ago, I pretty much said what I’ve been saying for a while. Bridges should get a nice extension in the 18-$21 million per range. Ayton maybe in the 16-$18 million range would be the most I would go, but I could see him somehow getting upto $22 million just based on them being capped out anyway, like we’ve seen for a couple of guys
If he wants the max, Phoenix definitely needs to continue to hold off on that, although they do risk someone giving him some wonky deal in RFA tough to match
Nothing against Ayton. He has improved, mostly thanks to Chris Paul. I personally dont think you should pay bigs more than a certain amount in today’s NBA, unless it is certain people
Suns are right on his value. He’s obviously going to disagree but he’s a little better then John Collins and really doesn’t justify the max especially when the team is paying Paul and booker