Former Suns star rumored to be on trade block

Despite being deep into the second apron, the Phoenix Suns have had an eventful offseason. Their core trio of superstars was never going to go anywhere - at least not yet anyway - but the organization still did really well to bring in Tyus Jones, Monte Morris and Mason Plumlee.

The potential for disaster still looms large, but there's no doubt that the Suns are trying to maximize the self-imposed "two year window" which they are currently operating in. Even if next season starts to go sideways, they also have legitimate trade assets in Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale.

It's clear the best move this franchise has made in the last several years is ditch Deandre Ayton, and the latest rumors on him backs that logic up.

Brett Seigel of ClutchPoints has had plenty to say on the Portland Trail Blazers this offseason, and the future of Ayton is central to this. Regarding the Bahamian big man, Seigel thinks that "at some point, the Blazers and Ayton are expected to part ways, sources said, yet the former first overall pick doesn't command a market at this time".

The lack of market makes total sense. Despite having the physical tools to be one of the premiere centers in the league - as he was in 2021 when the Suns made the NBA Finals - the 26-year-old has failed to kick on as he career has progressed. Offensively he is limited at best, while on the other end it is up to him and him alone when he decides to care.

Landing with a Trail Blazers squad that was in rebuild mode after trading away Damian Lillard, the expectation was that Ayton would dominate and put up big numbers on a poor squad. To be fair that happened some after the All-Star break - in March he put up over 23 points and 13 boards per game - but prior to that his play was listless as the Trail Blazers went nowhere.

This rumored development in Ayton's time in Portland - which again seems to have more to do with who he is and how he plays instead of his raw talents - once more proves the Suns were right to trade him last offseason for Jusuf Nurkic, Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson.

It's true that Nurkic also has little trade value around the league, but he at least only has two years remaining on his current deal. He also played the role needed in Phoenix last season better than Ayton ever could (or more accurately wanted to), while Allen led the league in 3-point shooting (46.1 percent).

Of all the names mentioned in that trade, Allen's trade value is currently the highest and rising as a result of the new four year, $70 million deal he inked prior to the beginning of the playoffs. That alone is reason to conclude that the Suns moved on from Ayton at the perfect time, because his trade value has never come close to what it was last summer since then.

The idea of Little is better than the reality - he looks an ideal trade candidate himself but doesn't seem to be able to be moved - and he's not going to even play with the second unit next season. Johnson is long gone, but Nurkic and Allen alone - despite looking like a meh package one year ago - is now rightly viewed as a home run.

A former first overall pick like Ayton is always going to get chances to impress in the league. Teams just can't quit a guy of that size and athletic ability. If he was on a more team-friendly contract, the Suns would surely love to have him back in a limited capacity. But as the Trail Blazers have found out - and now want to quickly rectify - they've been stuck with the dud with no sign of moving on from him.