A week following the opening of the Free Agency, Deandre Ayton has still not received any offers. A bizarre situation for a player of this level, which is partly explained by a market blocked by the Kevin Durant file. But there is a way for the situation to change quickly for the pivot, which interests the Pacers and Spurs. An offer might even drop in the next few days.
With all the media attention generated by Kevin Durant, some issues fall a little in the shadows. This is for example the case of Deandre Ayton. Restricted free agent and author of a new double-double season, the pivot nevertheless presented the profile of the player who would return to the Free Agency by bulging his chest to quickly sign a big contract. Yes, but now, everything has not been so simple for Dédé since the end of the season. Coming off of a very disappointing elimination, we learned that the pivot had put his franchise a little on his back by falling out with several basic men from Phoenix (including Chris Paul and Monty Williams). Not ideal, as the Suns seemed to be the No. 1 option to offer the Bahamian a max contract in recent months. Especially since the other options available to sign him (notably Detroit) have fallen back on other tracks. So we come to this situation where a week following the start of the Free Agency, Ayton still finds himself with nothing. But it might change very soon, since new perspectives are close to emerging.
.@ZachLowe_NBA reports in his latest podcast an interesting detail: this Saturday, the transfer of Malcolm Brogdon to Boston will be official, thus freeing up cash for the Pacers.
The League would expect Indiana to make a big contract offer to Deandre Ayton with that cash.
— TrashTalk (@TrashTalk_fr) July 7, 2022
According to information from ESPN, the Pacers might therefore come back to this file in the coming days. The Indiana franchise is preparing to formalize the departure of Malcolm Brogdon to Boston, a move that would free up enough cash to offer Ayton the big contract he is waiting for. We will still have to see how this case will go to the Pacers, who have not yet transferred Myles Turner even if a departure is expected. The track leading to Indiana is therefore the hottest at the moment, but it is not the only one: the Spurs, who are among the few teams with enough cap space to make an offer to Deandre Ayton, would also follow the file. But San Antonio is keeping its distance from the Suns player for the moment, since the franchise has other fish to fry. The Texans are currently in negotiations between the Lakers and the Nets as part of the transfer of Kyrie Irving to take over the salary of… Russell Westbrook, but to come back to the situation of Deandre Ayton, an offer is therefore likely to arrive in very little time, and when that is the case the Suns will have to make a final decision on whether or not to match the proposal for their pivot. It shouldn’t happen, but we’re never safe from a surprise. In any case, we are slowly approaching the outcome in this case.
The situation of Deandre Ayton might therefore finally evolve. After several weeks of vagueness, the Dédé sees the end of the tunnel once more, with two potential options which might materialize in the coming days. Nothing is done yet, but the latest news is reassuring for the pivot.
Source : realgm.comESPN, Bleacher Report