The Phoenix Suns held their annual Media Day for the upcoming 2023-24 NBA season on Monday, serving as the unofficial start of the new campaign. Suns Media Day was nowhere near as dramatic as last year, but there were a number of pressing questions that needed to be answered.
From the Deandre Ayton trade, to the arrival of Jusuf Nurkic, to the Suns’ lack of a true point guard, to a ton of new faces, here are five observations from a jampacked day.
1. Saying goodbye to Deandre Ayton
Monday’s events felt like the dawn of a new era for the Suns, but before they could completely turn the page, the recent Ayton trade had to be addressed. Owner Mat Ishbia and general manager James Jones were straight-forward about the reasons Phoenix traded Ayton, the only No. 1 overall draft pick in the franchise’s history.
“Deandre Ayton’s a great player,” Ishbia said. “We loved to have him on the team, he was a great part of our organization. I think he’s gonna do great in Portland. I really think he’ll put up some great numbers and really impress a lot of people, which is exciting for us and I wish him nothing but the best. He’s a great person and a great guy. But for our team, Nurkic was a better fit for us.”
Ishbia called the decision “unanimous” between himself, Jones and team CEO Josh Bartelstein, the trio that now serves as the Suns’ primary decision-makers. Jones wouldn’t clarify how long Phoenix had engaged with the Portland Trail Blazers to make a deal, but the reasoning behind that trade was simple.
“Because we saw an opportunity to get better,” Jones answered. “There’s never a perfect time to make a move, but there always are moments where you can evaluate, ‘Is this a pivot point where we can improve?’ And I thought that was the case.”
The move cemented Devin Booker as the only remaining Suns player from the team that reached the NBA Finals just two years ago. Jones was the main architect behind that group and its feel-good playoff run, but as he’s frequently reiterated, he’s always looking for ways to get better.
“From a personal perspective, it’s always tough whenever you change teammates, right?” Jones said. “You do a lot with them. You overcome a lot of struggles, you put in a lot of time, a lot of sweat equity, all those things are true. But that’s backward-looking. I can’t afford to look backwards.”
Moving forward, the Suns will be hoping their addition by subtraction move pays dividends. For Booker, the last man standing from that 2021 Finals squad, the hope is that Ayton’s situation improved as well.
“Trades are the hardest part of this business, because I know me, personally, I’m so invested,” Booker explained. “But just understanding that people might be in a better situation. I seen Deandre get to Portland, he had a big smile on his face, and even when we shook hands before he walked out after the trade, you could tell his energy was a new opportunity, new momentum. So that’s all you can ask is that they’re in a better situation, they continue to flourish and get better.”
2. Jusuf Nurkic is the big story of Suns Media Day
The Suns weren’t giving any thought to the idea they made the Ayton trade just to get rid of DA, of course; they legitimately love Jusuf Nurkic’s fit.
“We’re trying to win a championship now, and what Nurkic can do on the court and what he’ll do off the court, it fit into our organization,” Ishbia said. “He’s a better fit for us, and that was the decision we made when we had the opportunity to make that decision.”
Both Ishbia and Jones cited how the Suns had targeted Grayson Allen and Nassir Little to help round out the edges of the rotation, believing this team got better in the process. But on the Nurkic front, how is he a better fit?
“His skill-set complements our best guys, and more importantly, he’s ready to win,” Jones said. “He’s been in a situation the last few years where they’re just playing to try to get to where we are, but we’re playing to win championships. And if you get a really good player who’s motivated and you give him an opportunity to win a title, you usually see the best versions of those players.”
Coach Frank Vogel had previously been high on restoring Deandre Ayton to “an All-Star caliber level,” citing the defense he showed against his own Los Angeles Lakers during the 2021 NBA Playoffs. Vogel will have his work cut out for him to get that same level of defensive engagement from Nurkic, but he still seemed optimistic about what his new starting center brings to the table.
“You just said the words, ‘the defensive anchor,’ and his ability to pass the basketball offensively with the perimeter firepower that we have really makes him a great fit for our system,” Vogel said. “He’s one of the best defensive rebounders in the game. So as we compete to guard, we’re gonna force a lot of misses, and we gotta board. If we want to get out and be a running team, we need somebody that can dominate the defensive boards, and he’s elite at that.”
Over the last few years, there have been questions about Nurkic’s focus and effort on a tanking Portland team, but joining a title contender in Phoenix, he seemed rejuvenated — and ready to do the dirty work that will make him a useful fit alongside the Suns’ Big 3.
“Nurkic might not put up the numbers that Deandre will put up, which is perfectly fine,” Ishbia said. “We want him to play the role. Just like I gotta be the best owner I can be, they always gotta be in their role. We’re building around three superstars, Kevin, Devin and Brad, and Nurkic is a great fit.”
Nurkic mentioned he’s never been part of a super-team, and said he was ready to experience it in the best possible way.
“I’m not here to replace no one,” he said. “I’m a Nurk. Playing the right way, I think it’s really fun, and they understand that they have three scorers, 30 points a game. It’s just, for the big, it’s amazing, man. To have the ability to see how they’re gonna guard KD, Beal or Book, or who they’re gonna double, it’ll be fun.”
Nurkic believes his fit on offensive end will come quickly, but he’s aware he’ll have to hold down the fort on the defensive end. The 29-year-old is looking forward to learning under a defense-first coach like Vogel.
“First of all, Frank Vogel, I’m a big, huge fan, and I think that’s kind of the biggest reason I’m here,” Nurkic said. “I will have to figure out the defensive part with the team, and that’s coach coming in and do his part. So I think really I can thrive with his system and his coaching staff, and the organization really embraced me here in the best way possible, from the owner to the staff. So to me, it’s the dream to be in this system and the players we have.”
3. Suns believe they have enough ball-handling and playmaking
Chris Paul and Cam Payne are gone. Devin Booker and Bradley Beal will likely make up the starting backcourt, with Jordan Goodwin and Saben Lee being the lone point guards on the roster. The Suns no longer have a true point guard, but they don’t seem particularly concerned.
Devin Booker will likely take on the brunt of the playmaking load, but it’s a role he’s familiar with from his earlier days in Phoenix on far less talented teams.
“Devin’s a player,” Jones explained. “He’s been able to figure out how to be effective on the ball, off the ball. When you add him plus Brad, and the guys that we don’t really talk about — the Jordan Goodwins of our team, the Eric Gordons of our team — we have more than enough ball-handling. And when you have great players, they find a way to make great plays.”
Vogel, who has emphasized that Phoenix will utilize multiple ball-handlers, said he believes Booker’s past experiences at the point guard spot will make this a “seamless” transition for him. Booker acknowledged he’s had a lot more pressure on his shoulders in the past and doesn’t believe his job will be that difficult with the talent surrounding him.
“I just go out there and play basketball, man,” Booker said. “Take the best available shot and understanding the artillery that we have with us. So all these guys make the game easier for me, and I understand that.”
The Suns’ offense figures to be similar but different this season. It makes sense Phoenix would try to pick up the tempo with Chris Paul no longer in town, and Bradley Beal and Ish Wainright both alluded to the faster pace with early kickouts in their summer pickup runs.
“I think it’s not just gonna be one guy, we’re all gonna be leading by committee — whoever’s outletting the ball, whoever’s closer and gets the rebound, we’re all free to push and get our offense initiated,” Beal said. “I think that’s the biggest thing. Like, if we had a traditional point guard, he’s not gonna be slowing our offense down, like, ‘Yo, hold.’ Like, no, get the ball to Kevin, get the ball to D-Book and let’s get this thing going!”
“Coach Vogel wants everybody to push it,” Wainright added. “Last year, I really didn’t push the ball, I didn’t get any outlets. We’re playing pickup [now], I’m getting outlets and I’m pushing the ball, ball screens, getting the bigs involved and getting K and Book the ball and stuff like that.”
Turning defensive stops into fast break opportunities negates some of the need for a more traditional playmaker. That starts with Jusuf Nurkic, who could help ease the load for a true point guard in two respects.
“The two things that stick out is that he’s a dominant defensive rebounder, and that he’s an exceptional passing big,” Vogel said. “So to be able to throw the ball to him and have our guys in movement, it just gives us a different dynamic than them just coming down and playing pick-and-roll or post-up or iso every time down. So whether we’re throwing it to him in the post and splitting and cutting or throwing it to him at the top of the key, we really want to get those guys in space, get bodies off of our elite scorers on the perimeter, and Jusuf does that for us.”
4. Phoenix is a Officially championship-caliber destination
Hearing Bradley Beal call this the best team he’s ever been a part of, or listening to several other newcomers describe the Suns like a super-team, it was striking just how far Phoenix had come from just a few years ago.
“It’s kind of hard to explain, like a kid in the candy store,” Beal said. “You’re just excited. Hard to put into words. You’re just embracing every single moment of it.”
Over the last eight months, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal essentially worked their way to Phoenix via the trade market. The Suns then signed a number of quality free agents to veteran minimum contracts, despite having little cap space to work with.
This franchise has gone from one of the cheapest owners in the league to one willing to spend in order to upgrade the experience of being a Suns fan in every conceivable way.
“I don’t care if it’s the fan experience, the community, a player, a free agent, we’re gonna try to get better and win,” Ishbia said. “I think that’s what you’d want from me, and if I was a fan, that’s what I’d want.”
Phoenix has long been an attractive destination, but one that rarely cashed in by actually landing high-end talent in free agency. Trading for Chris Paul and signing Jae Crowder helped change that perception, but even with those two and Monty Williams gone, this revamped organization has never been more appealing to NBA players on the market.
Ishbia cited Phoenix itself, James Jones, Josh Bartelstein and Frank Vogel as things that would attract talent, but in the end, it’s a simple pitch.
“The easiest one is I got Devin and Kevin, right?” Ishbia said. “People really want to play with those guys. Then we obviously traded for Brad as well. And so I don’t have to be that good of a salesperson or recruiter when I got all those great people behind me.”
At Suns Media Day, Yuta Watanabe mentioned Durant as one of the main reasons he decided to sign in Phoenix. Bol Bol said KD was his favorite player growing up and someone he looked up to. And listening to Beal talk about Booker, the level of mutual respect for his new teammate was clear.
“I’m gonna continue to push him and push him and push him and push him until he can reach that level that we know he can tap into and whatever that is, ’cause he can still be better,” Beal said. “He can still grow, he can still improve, just like I can, just like everybody can. But I think his sky is unlimited, honestly. And I think he’s just now scratching the surface and people really waking up and respecting him and respecting his game and understanding that he can carry a team.”
Even Durant, who’s had his fair share of experience with super-teams, sounded optimistic about the ways he, Booker and Beal would push each other every day in practice.
“Being around talent with this game is always about putting yourself in position to be around the best of the best — coaches, players,” Durant said. “I think it’s important for my development as a player to constantly be around greats, and these guys have portrayed that in this league for a long time.”
However, as alluring as Phoenix’s Big 3 is, Ishbia shouldn’t downplay his own role in helping lure talent to the Valley. The Suns were able to sign a high number of key role players at the onset of free agency because they had a plan and aggressively pursued it.
“We thought strategically about it,” Ishbia said. “We analyzed every free agent, every possibility, and we targeted people and we got the guys we wanted. And some of ’em, it surprised us that we could get them, because it surprised a lot of people. But they were so excited to be part of a championship team. When you talk to people about, say, ‘Hey, let’s try to play into April, May and June on national television,’ they said, ‘I want to be part of that.’”
The allure of Phoenix is clear, but in the past, tight spending limited what the Suns were able to do. Max contracts for Booker, Durant, Beal and Ayton propelled this year’s group well past the second luxury tax apron, but they didn’t let those incoming penalties stop them from executing Ishbia’s vision.
“When the new CBA came out and we spent a ton of time evaluating the second apron, Mat, he was like, ‘Let’s just blow right through it,’” Bartelstein said. “‘Let’s go get a star player in Bradley Beal. Let’s go add the most depth. Let’s look at ways that we can add money in trades and bring back real rotation players.’ Having been in the NBA now, this is my ninth season, that’s not common.”
Keita Bates-Diop described his decision to sign with the Suns as “quick” and “easy.” Drew Eubanks said the same, noting the Suns had been interested in him for years dating back to his 2018 pre-draft workout in the Valley and that “nothing beats Phoenix.” And in addition to the talent and coaching staff, Eric Gordon cited the team’s “hungry owner” as a reason he chose Phoenix over other suitors.
“When you collectively put that all together, I’m like, ‘How can you not?’” Gordon said. “You’ll very rarely get a chance to be in situations like this, so I thought here would be a great decision. It’ll be a great chance to win something.”
What the Suns are left with is a highly motivated group of individuals who feel wanted, believe they can achieve great things by simply filling their role around the Big 3, and want to contribute to a culture of relentless work horses.
“We know how much talent we have, and we know it’s not gonna be easy at the same time,” Booker said. “So just hold each other accountable, keep competing at a high level, and I think it’s a domino effect from everybody. Once you see KD or Brad getting after it every day in practice, it’s just, ‘How am I gonna be the one not to?’ And I think everybody feels that same way.”
5. Let the training camp battles begin!
All that competitive fire is great for the culture, but it’s a potential nightmare for the coaching staff. Figuring out who will fill that fifth starting spot — let alone the rest of the rotation — will be a real challenge for Frank Vogel, especially with how many guys can play multiple positions.
So is it a fun challenge or something that keeps Vogel up at night? It’s a little bit of both, but the real challenge will be overcoming their “continuity disadvantage” compared to teams like the Denver Nuggets.
“There also can be a huge spark from a new group coming together like we have,” Vogel said. “And that’s what my focus is on, that we’re gonna take advantage of that first-year energy, the refresh energy that we’re gonna have with our group, and hopefully that overcomes any type of continuity disadvantage.”
Josh Okogie, Keita Bates-Diop, Eric Gordon, Nassir Little and Yuta Watanabe could all be legitimate candidates for the fifth starting job. Grayson Allen just started 70 games for the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks last year, and he joins a crowded backcourt rotation that includes Booker, Beal, Okogie, Gordon, Jordan Goodwin, Saben Lee, Keon Johnson and the injured Damion Lee. Figuring out the right lineup combinations will take time, and the competition for minutes under a brand-new coach will be intense.
“Fierce but healthy,” Vogel described. “We’re all on the same team. There will be an element of winning the job, but there will also be an element of this stretch, I’d like to see this combination play for the next five games, or for the next 10 games. Or I’d like to see a smaller lineup or a bigger lineup. I want to see how these two players play with one another. So I don’t want the competition to distract my purpose in exploring the roster and all the combinations that we can look at throughout the course of a season.”
As Suns Media Day kicks off training camp with an almost entirely new roster, at least the focus can finally return to basketball.
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An ode to Deandre Ayton — and the polarizing Suns legacy he leaves behind
The Phoenix Suns have only held the first overall draft pick once in the franchise’s 55 years of existence. Five years into that players’ tenure, he was unceremoniously shipped off to a rebuild — leaving Deandre Ayton with one of the most polarizing, complicated legacies in Suns history.
Very rarely has there been such a divisive figure wearing the purple and orange — not because he was a troublemaker off the court, or a problematic personality, or anything even remotely serious, but rather, because his ardent stans defended him to the death and his biggest haters unloaded on social media with every missed shot or bobbled pass.
There was juxtaposition in everything about him. His exuberant, bubbly personality was a delight to be around, but his tendency to speak honestly could be twisted easily, painting him in the wrong light whenever he spoke the first thing on his mind without thinking (remember when he was asked to define NBA success and replied with “getting to my second contract“?). His knack for positivity and saying all the right things offered encouragement, but his inconsistency in backing those words up frustrated to no end.
The greatest, most frustrating juxtaposition of Deandre Ayton is this: The world saw the flashes of brilliance that could one day make him deserving of that No. 1 overall selection, but they were never sustained for long enough to prevent that lofty designation from feeling like a curse.
Deandre Ayton’s journey to this moment
Deandre Ayton never asked to be drafted ahead of Luka Doncic. But when the Suns ignored Doncic’s impressive overseas resume against superior competition and held a pre-draft workout for Ayton, it felt more like a coronation ceremony. The media room was more packed that day than it was for Marvin Bagley III, Jaren Jackson Jr., Mo Bamba, or any other rookie who’s held a pre-draft workout in Phoenix over the last decade.
The local kid who went to U of A? The freakishly athletic big who was drawing David Robinson comparisons? The center phenom the Suns had wanted but never had? Doncic’s interview with the Suns amounted to a 10-minute FaceTime call. DA had the front office and most of the city fawning over his potential, his joyful personality and his potential fit with Devin Booker.
It didn’t take long for everyone to see the Suns had passed on a generational talent, but the 1984 NBA Draft offered hope: As long as Ayton was the Hakeem Olajuwon of his class rather than Sam Bowie, Phoenix might one day be vindicated for passing on the Michael Jordan of their draft. In other words, if the Suns won a title and Ayton was good in his own right, people would forget they bungled the best available player.
In 2021, it felt like the stars were aligning for that very outcome. All the Suns needed was one championship with Deandre Ayton on the roster to absolve them of that fateful draft decision. Phoenix reached the NBA Finals for just the third time in franchise history and were two mere wins away from reaching the mountaintop.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, of course, had other plans. But even in defeat, Suns fans could take solace in Ayton’s eye-opening postseason. He was arguably Phoenix’s most consistent player in those playoffs, anchoring the defense on one end and finishing every look in sight around the basket. Those 15.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game on 65.8 percent shooting showed a hungry, tenacious, still-learning player with room to grow.
The Suns had let a prime opportunity for a title slip away, but Devin Booker and a 22-year-old Deandre Ayton would be back.
Two years and two humiliating second-round defeats later, that version of “Playoff DA” never really came back. Even now, it’s inexplicable that Ayton failed to reach those same peaks — or even the same levels of engagement — in his last three playoff series. In just two years, he went from this:
To this:
The difference is baffling, and speaks to so much more than basketball. Because as much as we could point out the difference between Ayton’s willingness to dribble and attack the rim in the first clip, versus short-circuiting in the short roll for the next two years, that second play is only made by a player whose confidence is completely zapped. So how did that happen?
The first fracture
The first crack that would eventually become a breaking point came just months after that promising Finals run.
After doing all the dirty work that made Phoenix dangerous on both ends, Ayton was eligible for a rookie-scale extension. He had just spent an entire postseason fully locked in, setting strong screens, rolling and sealing with purpose, punishing defenders in the paint, finishing every rim look, protecting the basket, defending in space and crashing the glass.
Ayton had shown how high the Suns might rise when he fulfilled his role, giving fans one of the most magical NBA playoff moments of all time in the process:
In a vacuum, was all that worth the five-year max contract he wanted? Probably not. But in refusing to give him that deal, the Suns sent the message that what he provided wasn’t enough to get paid. So entering training camp the following season, a disappointed DA did not hesitate to let those failed negotiations bleed over into his comments.
“Throughout the playoffs and Finals, eventually I started to realize I was starting to turn a lot of heads from a lot of doubters, and I think it was funny because I sacrificed a lot,” Ayton said. “And I don’t think the world’s really seen my game and the type of window I have to where I already know what the requirement is, it’s just me adding on.”
In that first week of training camp, Ayton started using that word “sacrifice.” It was a term he hadn’t uttered to that point, letting his coach and his teammates use it for him. He also talked about wanting to do more on offense, wanting to take 3s, and most concerning of all, not liking the very role that helped Phoenix reach the Finals.
“Now that I finally established this big man role that I do not like, I finally took care of areas where I can find my shots in our offense,” Ayton proclaimed.
Wait. You don’t like your big man role, Deandre?
“Of course,” he replied. “I mean, I don’t like the big man role, but that’s the job at the end of the day. That’s the thing I’m great at.”
It was the birth of a chicken-and-egg riddle that may never be solved: Did the Suns limit DA’s growth by not letting him do more, or did they not let him do more because his growth was limited?
No matter which side of the debate one stands on, it was clear that from then on, Monty Williams had to walk a tightrope act between getting DA enough touches and keeping him locked in on the things the Suns really needed him to do. Ayton did sacrifice the types of touches No. 1 picks are typically afforded, but in an offense that included Booker, Chris Paul and Mikal Bridges, winning took priority over giving DA the freedom to fail, learn and grow.
A never-ending parade of what-ifs
So what if the Suns front office had overpaid Ayton with a max contract in 2021 to reward him for doing the dirty work? Maybe that would’ve kept him satisfied. Maybe that 64-win season ends differently.
On the other hand, what if Phoenix still fell short in the playoffs, and what if having two players on those types of designated max contract extensions then prevented the Suns from trading for Kevin Durant?
On the other other hand, once Durant forced the Brooklyn Nets back to the trade table, what if DA being on that type of extension would’ve given them no choice but to take Ayton back in the trade instead of one of the Twins?
The hypotheticals go on and on. What if Booker’s alley-oop to DA in the Finals had been a split-second sooner? What if the Suns had won the title in 2021? What if Chris Paul hadn’t gotten hurt and Phoenix hadn’t been dealing with COVID-19 in 2022? What if Monty Williams had just called Ayton after he finally got his payday?
It’s a never-ending parade of what-ifs that never manifested the parade Phoenix envisioned when it drafted him No. 1 overall.
A source of consternayton
But it wasn’t just the Luka Doncic “what if” that led to this week’s surprising but not unexpected trade. He wasn’t traded because the Suns drafted Ayton over Doncic; he was traded because the level of consistency he showed would’ve been hard to defend for any player on a max contract. For all the complaints about Monty Williams holding him back, the Suns actually ran more pick-and-roll and more post-up opportunities — DA’s bread and butter — last season. His efficiency regressed in both categories.
Ayton was never the best self-evaluator, which compounded matters. His comments about running on “Tesla battery” came just five days before a video of him standing under the basket and watching Nikola Jokic grab three offensive boards in a row went viral. He often talked about wanting to shoot more 3s despite his 3-point form clearly needing more work. And when asked about blocking out the excessive online vitriol, he gave an answer that didn’t quite compute.
“That’s easy to ignore,” Ayton said. “I let the peanut gallery keep going, and then I shut ’em up with my performance.”
Averaging 10.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game on 57.8 percent shooting against Denver didn’t shut anyone up, especially in a six-game defeat where all four losses came by double figures. Making matters worse, “Playoff DA” hadn’t shown up at all, capping off a season where he seriously regressed as a rim protector, hook shot master and midrange threat.
Deandre Ayton is a wonderful human being, a joy to be around, a supportive teammate and a talented basketball player. When Monty Williams had a specific task for him, DA usually found ways to deliver.
But trying to keep him happy, motivated and focused became grating for Williams, Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and the rest of his teammates. Their patience wore thin with a guy who constantly needed carrots in front of him to stay motivated and would sulk when he didn’t get the touches he felt he deserved. The Suns’ offense ran through its best offensive weapons, and the taste for DA’s main courses — hook shots, midrange pull-ups and a predictable spin move in the middle of the paint — had gotten stale.
All of that on- and off-court tension exploded during the Suns’ Game 7 beatdown against the Dallas Mavericks in a public shouting match with Williams, but it was still evident in pretty much everyone’s body language during the Nuggets series. Williams and CP3 may have gotten the axe this summer, but this trade doesn’t go through without the top brass running it by Booker and Durant first. A source told PHNX Sports the star duo was ready to move on.
That’s not to say Ayton is the only one to blame in all this. Williams’ decision to not reach out to DA all summer after his big payday remains a baffling one — especially when Ayton looked up to him like a father figure, someone he cited as being instrumental in mentally getting him through a 25-game suspension in his second season. The toxicity of the fanbase took a toll, and having Booker, CP3 and KD constantly in your ear can’t be easy, especially in the heat of battle.
But that last one speaks to a larger issue: Deandre Ayton only had that dog in him on occasion, and it was nowhere near often enough to keep pace with on-court killers like Booker, Paul, Durant and now Bradley Beal. Ayton had gotten to his second contract, but his desire to improve stagnated. He had gotten a pledge from his new coach to keep him involved on offense, but realistically, he wasn’t going to get the touches he needed to stay engaged — especially on this roster that now had three certifiably superior options ahead of him.
In the end, that fundamental disagreement on how Ayton was best-utilized made this trade a welcome change of scenery for everyone involved. Bearing a chip on his shoulder, DA joins a youth movement in Portland that will grant him more touches and more opportunities to fail, learn and expand his repertoire, all without any expectations to win right away.
The Suns, meanwhile, have placed their bets on being able to get by with 80 percent of what Ayton does for half the price tag. It’s an addition by subtraction move that prioritizes fit over talent and banks on Jusuf Nurkic being more accepting of the fourth or fifth fiddle role on a title contender. It also represents a gamble that could alleviate some of the negativity surrounding DA if the Suns fall short…or make his legacy look even worse if they finally break through and win it all.
In the end, Deandre Ayton was a misunderstood source of polarity in Phoenix. His successes were thrilling to witness, his childlike sense of wonder was enjoyable to be around, and his willingness to engage with fans in the community made the Valley a better place. He leaves the Suns ranking third all-time in both field goal percentage and rebounds per game, but more importantly, he provided fans with his infectious personality, the Valley-Oop, the poster dunk over Michael Porter Jr., the pregame half-court shots for those who came early, and the hilarious dance routines with Mikal Bridges and Cam Payne in warmups.
But he also struggled with his uphill battle against the hype of being a No. 1 overall pick, the expectations of being on a max contract, the cynicism of being drafted ahead of Doncic, and the downright nasty comments from those who labeled him “soft” and a litany of other uncalled-for names. He brought some of that scrutiny upon himself because of that fundamental disagreement over how he was optimized in Phoenix, as well as the inconsistent bouts of play that had his name in constant trade rumors.
Perhaps one day, when a championship affords them the luxury of doing so, Suns fans will be able to look back fondly on Deandre Ayton’s five years in the Valley. But until then, he’ll be sorely missed by his diehard supporters and readily dismissed by his harshest critics — a true testament to his polarity and the complicated legacy he leaves behind.
