For the first time since the “seven seconds or less” era when the Phoenix Suns were led by former NBA Most Valuable Player Steve Nash and all-star Amar'e Stoudemire, the Suns enter a new season with championship expectations.
Last season, the roles of Nash and Stoudemire were replaced with veteran point guard Chris Paul and first time All-Star Devin Booker. The duo, alongside center DeAndre Ayton, led the Suns to their first playoff appearance in 11 seasons, their first division title in 14 years and their first NBA finals appearance since 1993.
To reach the point the Suns are at currently, it took a long and strenuous rebuild starting in 2010 when the Suns let Stoudemire leave in free agency, eventually leading to Nash leaving as well just two years later.
As the Suns attempted to work their way toward a return to the postseason, the team struggled to find stability trading away players such as Goran Dragic, who emerged as an All-Star for the Miami Heat, Isiah Thomas, who became an all-NBA player for the Boston Celtics, and Eric Bledsoe, who eventually became an all-defensive team player for the Milwaukee Bucks (more on them later).
As the Suns gave up on talent early, they found a gem in the 2015 NBA draft by selecting Devin Booker, a shooting guard from the University of Kentucky, with the 13th pick. Booker was the first key piece to the rebuild in the eyes of general manager Ryan McDonough.
The Suns would fiddle in mediocrity for the next three seasons as the then Talking Stick Resort Arena would be partially filled on game nights unless the Lakers, Warriors, Cavaliers, or Bulls were in town in which the visiting fans would fill the outdated arena.
Booker would show signs of the All-Star caliber player he would become with moments such as a 70 point scoring outburst in 2017 versus the Boston Celtics. That would be the only highlight of the season as the Suns would finish 24-58 and draft Josh Jackson with the 4th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.
The following season the Suns would get worse, winning a league low 21 games which led to the Suns drafting the second key piece of their rebuild. With the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NBA draft, the Suns drafted the consensus top prospect DeAndre Ayton, a center from the University of Arizona who played high school basketball at Hillcrest Prep in Phoenix.
In college Ayton averaged 20 points, 11 rebounds, as well as two blocks per game and entered his rookie season with expectations of being the double-double averaging and defensive paint leader he was for the Wildcats.
Right away Ayton showed his potential, averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds in his rookie season. In his second season prior to the stoppage of the 2019-2020 season due to the COVID-19 outbreak Ayton had averaged 17 points and 11 rebounds and had 9 games of 15 or more rebounds.
After a 4 month hiatus, Ayton was asked to step up inside the NBA’s “bubble” as he and Booker’s play prior to the season’s stoppage had the Suns in contention for a playoff spot, albeit a small chance.
Ayton responded brilliantly, averaging 15 and 11 inside of the bubble as well as showing improvement defensively, adding 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks to his average as he helped lead the Suns to an 8-0 record.
Last season, Ayton’s numbers dropped in terms of scoring and rebounding but he shot more efficiently adding eight percent to his shooting percentage to finish fourth in the league in that category.
Once in the postseason, Ayton shot even more efficiently, shooting 66 percent from the field as well as improving both in scoring and rebounding to 16 points and 12 rebounds per game.
Defensively, Ayton showed his worth in the Western Conference Finals and the NBA Finals. During the WCF, Ayton forced the Clippers to shoot only 35 percent from the field when he was the primary defender. In the NBA Finals, Giannis Antetokounmpo shot over 70 percent from the field when guarded by any player other than Ayton. When Ayton guarded Antetokounmpo, the number fell to 52.8 percent.
In the most important series of Ayton’s early career, Ayton averaged 15 points and 12 rebounds as his 22 points and 19 rebounds in game one allowed the Suns to take an early lead in the NBA Finals.
DeAndre Ayton and his contract dispute with Suns owner Robert Sarver to some fans and media is viewed as him being a victim of being a star at a position that many view as a dying one, yet that isn’t true.
Last season, the top two Most Valuable Player candidates were centers. Nikola Jokic, whom Ayton and the Suns defeated in the second round of the playoffs, was a center.
Last season, only 11 centers averaged 10 or more rebounds per game, the lowest amount since the 1960’s with Ayton being one of those players.
Some fans of the game and media claim that the center position isn’t “valuable” or that it is the “weakest it’s ever been” due to the changes in the style of play since the end of the 1990’s.
Yet, the reigning Finals MVP is 6’11 power forward who also plays center at times. Five of the top 15 leading scorers last season were big men, and the presumptive MVP favorite entering this season is a center.
If the position is the weakest it’s ever been, why would a team willingly refuse to give up a top ten scorer, rebounder and shooter at the position?
Why would a team who spent 10 years rebuilding just to get back into a playoff spot, throw away one of its biggest pieces of how it got back as if they’re nothing?
DeAndre Ayton is the third best player from a historically weak draft class. The two players ahead of him are Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks and Luka Dončić of the Dallas Mavericks, both of whom are No. 1 options on their teams, not the No. 3 option on a championship team like Ayton. Both have been extended with the rookie supermax contracts.
Michael Porter Jr., the No. 3 option for the Denver Nuggets, who has only played two seasons and was the No. 14 pick in the same draft, was extended to the same contract that Ayton is wanting while being outplayed by Ayton in the postseason as well as defensively and rebounding wise in both seasons Porter Jr has played.
DeAndre Ayton has been one of the key pieces bringing Phoenix back into relevancy for basketball. To not extend him and let him enter restricted free agency where you run the risk of a team outbidding you and not being able to match the offer would ruin the rebuild. It would be a disservice to not just Devin Booker and Chris Paul, both of whom were promised a championship team being put around them, but to the fans of the Suns who paid money to see the team when Tyler Ulis was draining game winners and Igor Kokoškov was coaching the equivalent to a G-League team who’ve cheered up until now.
To keep the championship window alive and as a service to the Valley, the fans, and the team. Robert Sarver must do these final three words… pay the man.
