“The goal for everybody is to see everyone getting paid" - Chris Paul talks about the Deandre Ayton situation, explains what the latter must do for a contract extension
Phoenix Suns’ veteran point guard Chris Paul recently spoke at length about teammate and 2018 NBA draft no. 1 pick Deandre Ayton's contract situation. Ayton was eligible in the summer for a rookie-scale max extension of four years, a deal that would have been worth around $173 million.
Since joining the NBA, Ayton has produced three double-double seasons with respect to points and rebounds. He made the All-NBA Rookie team in 2019 and played a big part in the Suns’ run to the 2021 NBA Finals against the Milwaukee Bucks. This season, the franchise spent a total of $300 million acquiring free agents and extending player contracts.
However, the Suns also failed to reach an agreement with star man Deandre Ayton. The front office was reportedly of the opinion that Ayton is not at the same level as the likes of Trae Young and Luka Doncic. They are two players who have been All-Stars since joining their respective teams. Chris Paul believes that the Bahamian International’s contract situation will eventually work out. Paul added that Ayton knows exactly what to do to earn a contract extension that the Phoenix Suns never formally offered, in the summer.
Chris Paul spoke to @ChrisBHaynes about losing the Finals, the Suns' chemistry and DeAndre Ayton's contract situation.
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Chris Paul claims Deandre Ayton knows what to do to earn contract extension with Phoenix Suns
The 23-year old Deandre Ayton is reportedly set to become a restricted free agent at the end of the current season. This provides the Phoenix Suns the ability to match offers, something Chris Paul believes is bound to happen if the season goes according to plan. The 36-year old, 11 time All-Star was full of praise for his current teammates:
Man, this is probably one of the best locker room that I’ve been in my whole career. Because we have young guys that are leaders and everybody leads in their own different ways. We communicate, we talk. It’s a real family over here. You celebrate the guys that got paid this summer.
Paul claimed that one of the goals is to see his teammates getting paid, something which will be a result of winning games:
With D.A. and his situation, we talked about it. He knows what he has to do. The goal for everybody is to see everyone getting paid. His situation is what it is, but it’s going to work out for him. We hope it works out for him. The biggest thing we know we can do is go out there and win games.
Chris Paul to @YahooSports on advice he instills about inner circles and how he believes Suns will handle expectations now that key teammates are paid - with the exception of Deandre Ayton: “His situation is what it is, but it’s going to work out for him.” sports.yahoo.com/chris-paul-on-…
Chris Paul went on to claim that while players can sometimes feel as if they should earn more than certain teammates, the situation can be made worse due to the player’s inner circle.
When I played for Doc (Rivers), he used to talk about clutter a lot. Monty (Williams) talks about it, too. When you lose a game and you go home, a lot of times everybody in your family thinks it’s everybody else’s fault that you lost. I’ll never forget Doc saying that. It makes sense.
Finally, Chris Paul also talked about his first ever Finals appearance, claiming that the journey itself was not over:
I don’t think I’m focused on getting back to the Finals. We lost. It was hard. But I’m more excited about the journey with this team. Last year was a lot of unexpected. The year that we had last year matured everybody. So we know not to get too high or too low. That’s what I’m excited about. This journey.
Of course, for the Phoenix Suns to better their run last season would be a franchise first. The Suns have never won an NBA championship and came closest after 1993 last season. With Chris Paul looking set to enjoy another couple of seasons producing at a high level, a first ever ring does not appear to be a far-fetched dream.
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