3 reasons the Phoenix Suns are right to keep Deandre Ayton

In a move that didn’t seem likely as recently as one week ago, the Phoenix Suns now look like they are going to proceed into next season with center Deandre Ayton on the roster. The news first mentioned on social media by John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Phoenix, before being followed up by Chris Haynes of The Athletic a number of days later.

On paper this looks like a perilous situation for the Suns, who between Ayton, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and the newly added Bradley Beal have four players making serious sums of money for the foreseeable future. The thought process was that trading Ayton for two or three players may have kept the Suns in a similar salary cap situation, but would have provided some welcome depth.

Those plans have been iced for now, and what this does do is allow the Suns to have the only truly “Big 4” in the entire NBA as they search for a first championship.

But is keeping a player who signed an offer sheet with the Indiana Pacers in the past, and who hasn’t always given 100 percent, the right move at a crucial time for the organization? The Suns are on the clock like few other teams in the league, and anything less than a title for the duration of Durant’s time in Arizona will be seen as a failure.

If you take who Ayton is as a player, what he is able to do and his age profile (he will be 25-years-old next month), then he would appear to be an ideal fit for the Suns in this moment. So much so that keeping him on this roster, as the featured big man at a time when the need to have an elite one to succeed is imperative, was the right move for the Suns to make this summer.

3 reasons the Phoenix Suns are right to keep Deandre Ayton.

3. The value for Ayton wasn’t there.

This was never going to be as straightforward as trading Ayton to the highest bidder, because the reality is many of the bids for Ayton would have been underwhelming. What rival franchise out there is going to give up two solid rotational players, and in all likelihood a pick or two, in order to acquire Ayton?

The Suns did just this to net Durant, sending out Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson. The two very players they are sorely lacking right now, and who they tried to go out and find cut-priced versions of through the NBA Draft last week. These players come at a premium, whereas there are few teams out there who need Ayton specifically.

The best teams in the league either have a star center of their own, don’t have or won’t trade the Suns what they’re look to get in return, or else they are rebuilding groups who are in no rush to add a player like Ayton. A team like the Orlando Magic is an ideal partner to do business with in theory.

But when Wendell Carter Jr. was as good as Ayton himself last season, and costs a fraction of his counterpart, why would the Magic want to do a deal like that? Ayton doesn’t push the needle enough for any team to part with a package that it is worth the Suns’ while to go after, and that is why they were smart to hold onto him.

John Collins just got the Atlanta Hawks the thoroughly underwhelming return of Rudy Gay and a second round pick. Ayton’s value is much more than that, but it still validates the point. Ayton is worth more to the Suns than what any other organization could or would give up. So keeping him instead of moving on what they perceive is the best bid currently makes no sense.

3 reasons the Phoenix Suns are right to keep Deandre Ayton.

2. He is still a top 10 center in the NBA.

Suns fans might not want to hear this, but there is no question that Ayton is a top 10 center in the league today. If the shoe was on the other foot and they somehow had the chance to go out and get a big in that category to put next to Booker, Beal and Durant, the front office would do that every time.

So because Ayton is on the team already, why is it different? This comes down to the fact Ayton has looked disengaged in the past, and he is only going to slide further down the pecking order offensively. As it is with most dominant big men, they like to feel appreciated and given the ball some before they show you their best on the defensive end.

Ayton can be elite defensively again, and he has the talent to be an All-Star in this league. He was the foundation upon which a run to the NBA Finals was built in the past, and if you are going to go through the Western Conference, you need a big who can wrestle successfully with Anthony Davis and Nikola Jokic.

Jokic got the better of Ayton this postseason en route to his first championship, but Ayton has been on teams that have knocked both Jokic and Davis out of the playoffs before. In those battles, he outplayed the other big for stretches of games. This was achieved without Durant and Beal, so imagine what Ayton can do if those two are firing on all cylinders?

Any trade involving Ayton would have likely seen Jock Landale and Bismarck Biyombo, assuming they are both brought back, as the two main bigs on the roster. The Suns would have gotten better elsewhere, but this would have represented a massive downgrade in one of their starting five positions. Both of these players are backups at best, and that is being generous to Biyombo.

Outside of Jokic, Davis and Joel Embiid (does Giannis Antetokounmpo count?), who in the entire league would the Suns rather have over Ayton? Bam Adebayo is about the only one, with Rudy Gobert, Jarrett Allen and Kristaps Porzingis all troubling for different reasons. Ayton can be the guy here, he just needs the support of the franchise to do so, and to not feel like an afterthought.

3 reasons the Phoenix Suns are right to keep Deandre Ayton.

1. He’s never played for a head coach like Frank Vogel.

If there is one person who is going to be able to get through to Ayton, it is new head coach Frank Vogel. He arrives with the sterling reputation of having won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, and had them lead the league in defensive rating despite being decimated with injuries in 2021.

Prior to that, he turned Roy Hibbert into a monster in the paint as the Indiana Pacers made Eastern Conference Finals appearances in 2013 and 2014, and on a less important note here he helped Paul George blossom into the two-way superstar that he would become.

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Vogel even managed to get former Magic big Nikola Vucevic (another player who is just not on Ayton’s level) to play the best defense of his career, and although it was only just above league average, it was miles better than the revolving door he had previously been. Vogel has plenty of experience, and working with Vogel will be something he is already looking forward to.

The Suns aren’t exactly going to go back to working out of the post often, but Vogel will ensure that Ayton’s number gets called some. He may also run some rotations where Durant sits, and one of Booker, or more likely Beal, can run some two-man action with Ayton to get him involved offensively.

It is Beal who represents real intrigue here, as he is a guard who can hand the ball off and pop up again elsewhere to receive it and score in bunches. He is comfortable doing this and is going to excel with the Suns as a result. This could mean Ayton screening for Beal, which is hardly going to excite him, but also potentially finding Beal with short passes and cuts to the basket himself.

This engagement will surely then have Ayton doing whatever is necessary on the defensive end for Vogel. Should he start to get some serious Defensive Player of the Year buzz, Ayton would surely buy into what his coach is telling him to do, as he finally gets some national recognition for all of the right reasons. Ayton is going to thrive under coach Vogel, of that there is no doubt.