The Phoenix Suns matched the Indiana Pacers’ four-year, $ 133 million bid for restricted free agent center Deandre Ayton, paving the way for him to return to the franchise, they said Thursday night in ESPN its agents, Bill Duffy and Nima Namakian.
The Suns had until 23:59 ET on Saturday to match the biggest bid token in NBA history, but they tied it immediately and ended the pursuit of the Ayton Pacers.
Phoenix showed no inclination to negotiate a signing and trade deal with Indiana before Ayton signed the sheet, sources said, indicating that the Suns would likely match the bid sheet once it was presented to them. If the Suns didn’t match, they would have lost Ayton, the first overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, for nothing.
The Suns cannot exchange Ayton until Jan. 15 and cannot exchange him for an entire year without his consent. This takes Ayton out of any possible off-season commercial scenario involving Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant.
Namakian of Innovate Sports and Duffy of BDA Sports and WME had insisted to the Suns that they could find a maximum contract offer for Ayton in the market, and delivered it with the bid sheet. The Suns had never made a maximum offer to Ayton, suggesting they did not value him as a top player.
The most important bid sheet signed by a team that was not matched was when Harrison Barnes was signed by the Dallas Mavericks for four years and $ 94.4 million in 2016, the same summer that the former Barnes, the Golden State Warriors, signed Durant as a player. free agent.
Ayton had been excited about the possibility of teaming up with talented young guard Tyrese Haliburton and becoming a centerpiece of the Pacers’ rebuild, sources told ESPN.
Indiana changed Malcolm Brogdon earlier this offseason and Domantas Sabonis last season, switching to a new era centered around a young and exciting backcourt from Haliburton, an emerging star, and debutant Bennedict Mathurin, the sixth. selection from last month’s NBA draft.
The Pacers had to pull out $ 4.7 million in the maximum space to sign Ayton on the maximum bid sheet. To do so, Indiana resigned guard Duane Washington and resigned and pulled the three players who came to Boston’s trade for Brogdon: Malik Fitts, Juwan Morgan and Nik Stauskas, sources told ESPN.
Ayton, who will turn 24 next week, was selected with the first draft pick of the 2018 draft outside Arizona, part of a star-studded draft class that also included Luka Doncic (third), Jaren Jackson Jr. (fourth), Trae Young (fifth) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (11th).
After becoming the All-Rookie’s first team in 2019, Ayton has become a quality starting center, averaging 16.3 points and 10.5 rebounds, while helping to anchor the Phoenix defense during his run to the 2021 NBA Finals, the first time the franchise reached the league. championship round since Charles Barkley led the Suns there in 1993.
Ayton averaged 17.2 points and 10.2 rebounds last season, shooting 63.4% from the field and 74.6% from the foul line.
After an exceptional regular season, finishing with the best record in the league, the Phoenix postseason ended in a landslide defeat to the Mavericks in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals, a game Ayton spent most of of the second half looking from the bench.
When asked after the game why this happened, Suns coach Monty Williams said, “It’s internal.” Ayton, meanwhile, declined to speak to reporters after the match.
ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Bobby Marks contributed to this report.