{"id":18976,"date":"2022-07-19T09:18:39","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T09:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/deandre-ayton-happy-to-put-free-agency-behind-him-re-signs-with-suns\/"},"modified":"2022-07-19T09:18:39","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T09:18:39","slug":"deandre-ayton-happy-to-put-free-agency-behind-him-re-signs-with-suns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/deandre-ayton-happy-to-put-free-agency-behind-him-re-signs-with-suns\/","title":{"rendered":"Deandre Ayton &#8216;happy to put free agency behind&#8217; him, re-signs with Suns"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Deandre Ayton signs an offer sheet, Suns match - July 14\" src=\"https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/empire-of-the-suns\/deandre-ayton-signs-an-offer-sheet-suns-match-july\/embed\" width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton officially re-signed with the organization on Monday, the team announced.<\/p>\n<p>Included in the press release was Ayton&#8217;s first time being quoted since the Suns&#8217; season ended.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m happy to put free agency behind me and ready to work and compete for a championship with my teammates,\u201d Ayton said in the release.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">PHOENIX!  I grew up here, got drafted here, had my last here.  We have the best fans in the world. <\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m ready to get back to work with my brothers.  \ud83d\udd12 <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/KlCSui0M6z\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/KlCSui0M6z<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Deandre Ayton (@DeandreAyton) <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DeandreAyton\/status\/1549224991840907264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">July 19, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Ayton did not speak with the media after the Suns were eliminated in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Dallas Mavericks.  Ayton got into a verbal exchange with head coach Monty Williams when he checked out of the game for the last time in the early third quarter, and when Williams was asked about it postgame, the coach said \u201cit&#8217;s internal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ayton had previously not spoken anywhere else publicly since then or during his restricted free agency when buzz grew that the Suns could potentially sign-and-trade the 23-year-old.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDeandre is a force on both ends of the floor, who has elevated his game every year and will continue to do so,\u201d general manager James Jones said in the release.  \u201cDA is so important to what we do and without him we could not have reached our recent levels of success.  We are excited to keep Deandre at home in the Valley where he belongs.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"zxx\" dir=\"ltr\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6MaTTOozZq\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/6MaTTOozZq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Phoenix Suns (@Suns) <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Suns\/status\/1549214779755020289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">July 19, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Shortly after the signing became official, a story from ESPN&#8217;s Marc J. Spears dropped that quoted Ayton, Jones and Williams.<\/p>\n<p>In the piece, Spears writes that Jones told Ayton the plan throughout free agency was to re-sign him.  It also includes a tidbit from Ayton that he and Williams are on good terms.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Suns head coach Monty Williams added he was ecstatic Ayton was back as his starting center, and he knew all along \u201cwe were going to match any offer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJames and myself, we talk a lot and he&#8217;ll let me know what&#8217;s going on with the contract and ask for my opinion,\u201d Williams said to ESPN&#8217;s Andscape.  \u201cI try to stay out of persuading him when it comes to him making decisions.  But we knew any offer that he got, we were going to match.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2026 I&#8217;m happy for Deandre just because I know this is what he wanted.  He wants to be in that class of players that he &#8216;s considered in this way.  So, from that standpoint, I think as a competitor, that&#8217;s what you want.  When you see a guy working for that, that part is pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Indiana Pacers agreed to a four-year, $133 million offer sheet with Ayton on Thursday, one that the Suns matched in three minutes.  Phoenix and Ayton did not come to an agreement on a contract extension last October, which brought on restricted free agency for Ayton.  The Suns did reach an agreement with wing Mikal Bridges, a member of Ayton&#8217;s draft class.<\/p>\n<p>Ayton was selected first overall by the Suns in the 2018 NBA Draft.  In his fourth year, Ayton averaged 17.2 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game while shooting 63.4% from the field.  He was a key part of Phoenix&#8217;s run to the 2021 NBA Finals and a franchise-record 64 wins last regular season.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"twitter-follow-button\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KellanOlson\" data-show-count=\"false\" target=\"_blank\">Follow @KellanOlson<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"sponored-newsletter\">\n<div style=\"width:98%;text-align:center\"><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>    .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton officially re-signed with the organization on Monday, the team announced. Included in the press release was Ayton&#8217;s first time being quoted since the Suns&#8217; season ended. \u201cI&#8217;m happy to put free agency behind me and ready to work and compete for a championship with my teammates,\u201d Ayton said in the &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/deandre-ayton-happy-to-put-free-agency-behind-him-re-signs-with-suns\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Deandre Ayton &#8216;happy to put free agency behind&#8217; him, re-signs with Suns<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[1671,1670,1669],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1496,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/jazz-interested-in-deandre-ayton-sign-and-trade-possibilities\/","url_meta":{"origin":18976,"position":0},"title":"Jazz interested in Deandre Ayton sign-and-trade possibilities","date":"July 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Utah Jazz have interest in exploring a sign-and-trade to acquire Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton, reports Arizona Sports' John Gambadoro. The Jazz are the first team firmly linked to having interest in acquiring the restricted free agent, who last offseason did not come to an extension agreement to remain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14507,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/phoenix-suns-deandre-ayton-signing-4-year-133m-maximum-contract-offer-sheet-with-indiana-pacers-agents-say\/","url_meta":{"origin":18976,"position":1},"title":"Phoenix Suns&#8217; Deandre Ayton signing 4-year, $133M maximum contract offer sheet with Indiana Pacers, agents say","date":"July 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Phoenix Suns restricted free agent center Deandre Ayton is signing a four-year, $133 million maximum contract offer sheet with the Indiana Pacers, his agents, Bill Duffy and Nima Namakian, told ESPN on Thursday.The Suns have two days to match the largest offer sheet in NBA history and keep Ayton --\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"http:\/\/arizonasports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GettyImages-1393731285-e1658197312272.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18976"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18976\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}