The Suns have reportedly matched the Indiana Pacers offer sheet to DeAndre Ayton. That means Ayton is now officially a Phoenix Suns player. I think this is Phoenix going all in on a potential Durant trade. I know they don’t want Ayton in the roster so it seems clear they just put up 9 figures for a trade piece. That gives them more time to figure out a deal. The saga continues…
As I understand it, there is a no trade clause in his contract. They cannot use him now as a potential trade piece. This means that the Durant trade is dead. Correct me if I am wrong.
That is interesting. I wonder why they added that in there. Seems like they shot themselves in the foot a little bit. January 15th is still early enough to get him traded next season, but it's interesting that he would have to approve any trade for a year. Basically gives him all the power to decide where he wants to go. Seems like that should have been the only trade restriction in place so that they could have still used him in a Durant trade. Very strange to me that they would agree to force Ayton to start next season with the team. Seems like that isn't what anybody wanted, so I'd love to hear the justification for why it happened that way.