Reports this week have continued to suggest that the Suns and Deandre Ayton may be headed for a divorce, with a sign-and-trade agreement considered the most likely outcome. However, it remains unclear which teams will be Ayton’s top suitors in restricted free agency.
Prior to last week’s draft, the Pistons were viewed as a strong candidate to make a play for Ayton, but they landed Jalen Duren on draft night and committed to using most of their available cap room to accommodate salary dumps, reducing the likelihood that they’ll make a serious play for the former No. 1 overall pick.
In the latest episode of his Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said to “keep an eye on Indiana,” noting that the Pacers spoke to Phoenix about a possible Ayton deal prior to February’s trade deadline (hat tip to Timothy Rapp of Bleacher Report).
Indiana would make sense as a landing spot for Ayton if the team trades incumbent center Myles Turner. The Pacers have some cap flexibility and wouldn’t be as hamstrung by the base year compensation rule impacting Ayton as some of his other suitors might be.
As a result of the base year compensation rule, Ayton’s incoming salary from a new team’s perspective will count in full (on a maximum-salary contract, that’d be approximately $31MM), whereas from the Suns’ perspective, the outgoing salary would only be half that amount (about $15.5MM).
That will make salary-matching very challenging in some cases, but not for the Pacers, who have the cap flexibility necessary to accommodate Ayton’s new contract while sending out less than the $24-25MM+ that would be required to meet matching requirements.
Here are a few more rumors on possible landing spots for Ayton:
- The Timberwolves, who are believed to be in the market for a rim-protecting center, are “another team to watch” for Ayton, Windhorst said during the aforementioned episode of his Hoop Collective podcast. The Wolves will be over the cap and would need to make a sign-and-trade deal. It’s unclear if they have the pieces necessary for such a move.
- The Nets like Ayton, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com, who suggests Brooklyn could put together a package centered around Joe Harris. However, that would be extremely difficult, since acquiring a player via sign-and-trade would hard-cap the Nets, who project to be well over the tax. It’s hard to see how they could make such a move without moving off Kyrie Irving or Ben Simmons.
- The Raptors have been mentioned as a possible Ayton suitor, but Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link) doesn’t believe there have been any talks about Toronto acquiring the big man.
- John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link) suggests that the looming possibility of a Rudy Gobert trade could affect Ayton’s market, since some of the teams in the market for an impact center prefer the Jazz star to Ayton.
Bulls would be smart to move in and send Vooch and package for Ayton…
Takes away all the bulls flexibility, find a rim protector in free agency and keep the options open moving forward, the nets are goin to implode, wait for KD to ask to be traded then swing for the fences, Ayton makes the bulls have different problems than Vuc but neither are championship #1’s
Suns would want first round picks as well. Making a Net trade unlikely
Suns can want whatever they want don’t mean there going get iT, sign and trades rarely include a bunch of serious assets
If Ayton will agree to a 4yr $115-120M contract, the Hawks could send Clint plus our 2023 1st to Phoenix for him. Seems like the best situation for everyone
The Wolves have all their future picks at their disposal, but I hope we actually put decent protection on them (unlike the DLo trade that netted the Warriors Kuminga and Wiggs) if going for Ayton. The Suns will probably require unprotected picks, though. Especially after what the Hawks had to give up for a far lesser player in Murray (dude has only had 1 great year and can’t shoot, hold your horses on the guy). And it’d have to be a 3 team trade because the Sun’s obviously have no need for DLo.
Murray is a much better player than Ayton as a matter of fact!
BTW what PHO wants ain’t matter at all, right?
Thunder gonna sign Ayton in a sign and trade.
People seem to be assuming the Spurs will be endeavoring nothing for a few years. Hard for me to believe.