After signing a four-year, $133 million maximum contract extension to return to the Phoenix Suns, Deandre Ayton said he gained a lot of wealth that can help his family.
There was a lesson for the young center as the contract initially came via a matched offer sheet from the Pacers.
Ayton told Andscape that he was happy after signing his contract. The way we are able to work in the Phoenix community and home in the Bahamas with this contract is something my family and I will never forget. Those are the things that we travel by.
I know that this is a business. I was more anxious to know the outcome so I could just get back to work. Everything was treated like a business. Don't look too deep into it and approach everything with professionalism.
Ayton was not offered a five year deal by the Suns. The restricted free agent signed the max offer sheet with the Pacers. The Suns matched the largest offer sheet in NBA history as soon as they got it.
James Jones told Ayton during a conference call on July 1 that he would be re-signing with Phoenix. James said it was important to match immediately.
Jones said that they wanted Deandre here. At the core of everything we do, he is vital. It was true all the time. When we can come to an agreement, we would keep him here. We knew this was where he wanted to be and we didn't need to wait 24 hours or 48 hours.
I just want to be direct. You do it if you know what you want to do. If anyone doubted that we wanted him, the matching did that. It was important for us. It was crucial. It was important to us. We wanted to handle our business quickly.
Sources told Adrian Wojnarowski that Ayton was excited about the possibility of teaming with young guard Tyrese Haliburton. Sources told Andscape that the Pacers were interested in a sign-and-trade deal with the Ayton team.
The Pacers cleared $4.7 million in cap space in order to sign Ayton. The Pacers were interested in a sign-and-trade deal with the Suns. Ayton has a no-trade clause and the Suns can't trade him until January.
Ayton credited his agents with keeping him focused and taking care of his side of the bargain, and he views his free agency all in the past.
A lot of uncertainty was brought about by the shift in free agency. The Pacers organization has a lot of respect for me. They were aggressive from the beginning. We agreed to a maximum offer sheet. There was a match between the Suns and the others. I returned to Phoenix as a Sun.
I'm not sad. The process has come to an end. I am focused on chasing a championship with my brothers.
The Suns did not offer a maximum contract to Ayton because of negotiations. The matched offer sheet gave Phoenix an extra year of contract.
I won't go into the inner details. I don't pay much attention to the future. We had a lot of good talks. He eventually got a max offer sheet that we matched.
The top pick of the NBA draft was Ayton. Through the first four seasons of his career, Ayton has averaged 16.3 points and 10.5 boards per game. The Suns advanced to the NBA Finals with the help of the big man.
Jones said he was happy for Ayton and his family. When Ayton signed his contract from the team's practice facility in Arizona, he was met by Jones and the Suns' owner.
Jones said she's happy for him. I am proud of him for how he dealt with it. I'm looking forward to seeing what his next steps are. He wants to improve and we want to help him reach that level.
We're a great team if he can get that level. The team is already a good one. We are a great team, but we are even better.
Suns head coach Monty Williams said he was ecstatic that Ayton was back as his starting center and that they were going to match any offer.
Williams told Andscape that James would let him know what was going on with the contract and ask for his opinion. I don't try to get him to make decisions. We were going to match any offer he received.
Is that correct? I am happy for Deandre because I know what he wants. He wants to be a part of that group. I think as a competitor you want that. That part of the job is pretty cool.
The Suns had expectations of returning to the NBA Finals after winning an NBA-best 64 games last season. At the end of the regular season and in the playoffs, Phoenix struggled and was eliminated in the second round by the Dallas Mavericks.
Williams benched Ayton for most of the second half after they argued on the bench. Williams described that loss as a bad day.
I didn't feel like I had to make a statement. Williams was doing his job. We had an amazing season despite the bad day. We tend to focus on the one bad thing when it comes to sports and society. It still hurts even though it hurts like crazy. As the season comes to a close, I look at all the good things that happened, even though it was embarrassing to play that way.
The team is a new standard in basketball for the Suns. When I first arrived, the team was not winning a lot of games and nobody was talking about it. It's a team and you have to deal with people. Things are discussed now that you're winning and having some success. We are a team that has expectations and so it just goes with the territory.
Ayton described the Game 7 as in the past. He described his relationship with Williams as calm.
Game 7 was not a normal game. As a team, we let that go. It's all in the past. We're going to think about the future. Ayton did not go into detail.
The core of the Suns is comprised of Ayton, Paul, Booker, and Bridges. All are under contract for at least the next two decades. The lack of contractual issues will allow the team to focus on the task at hand.
Williams said that when you're a coach or a player in this league, you do it because you love it, but also because you get paid a lot of money. People don't want to say it's not about money. That is not a truth. The money is at the center of the matter. I help people. I am a head coach. I bet I could find a high school job in every state in the country and have a lot more fun. We love the NBA, we love the league, but we have a short window to do it because we are paid a lot of money.
I laugh at people who say it's not about the money. I'm pretty sure it is. If you keep complaining about it, people will know it's about money and you won't be able to move on. It is less of a distraction.
Ayton will have a birthday party with his family in Nassau on Saturday. He spent a month and a half at P3 Applied Sports Science in Santa Barbara, California, to focus on himself.
After playing for the University of Arizona, Ayton will return to Arizona.
Ayton wants to keep sharing what he's doing as the face of his family. We are willing to help in any way we can in the community. One of the things my mom kept me on was that.
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