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The Phoenix Suns Can Now Trade Deandre Ayton. Will They? | Locked On Suns podcast

Ayton is now eligible to be dealt once again, giving the Suns GM James Jones more options to shake up a Phoenix team that has a .250 winning percentage since Dec. 1.

PHOENIX — After the Phoenix Suns matched the offer sheet Deandre Ayton signed with Indiana as a restricted free agent last summer, a few rules went into place for Ayton and any potential trades he might be involved in. One is that he has veto power over any trade the Suns look to make, another is that he can’t be traded to Indiana, and lastly he wasn’t allowed to be traded until Jan. 15. 

As the calendar flips into the third week of the month, Ayton is now eligible to be dealt once again, giving Suns general manager James Jones more options to shake up a Phoenix team that has a .250 winning percentage since Dec. 1 while dealing with multiple significant injuries.

But will Ayton actually be on his way out?

“I understand how injuries and the other roster around him affects this stuff,” said Locked On Suns host Brendon Kleen. “But he’s not playing hard … he’s not holding this defense together, and those are all the things that also come when you’re a max player and you’re the only (great) player left healthy on your team.”

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That could make rival NBA teams less likely to pursue Ayton.

So could his contract. In the first year of a maximum contract, Ayton makes just less than $31 million this season and is owed $133 million through 2026.

“This is not me saying there’s no hope for Deandre Ayton,” Kleen added. “I don’t think it’s over for him in terms of continuing to grow and adapt. He’s only 24.”

The Toronto Raptors have been rumored as a suitor dating back to the offseason when Ayton was a free agent. Young, building teams like the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets would be logical landing places for Ayton as well. 

The Suns surely need a jolt of fresh talent and reported incoming team governor Mat Ishbia may want to hit the ground running. But considering his salary and the Suns’ inconclusive season, it would be hard to pull a trade off involving Ayton in-season.

“I don’t think that there’s really a realistic pathway to a trade in-season, with the veto, with his inconsistency as a player, and with how big of a trade we would have to be talking about,” Kleen said, “then you throw in the fact that the ownership situation makes any trade a little wild to imagine at this point in time and I just don’t see it happening.”

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