B/R Says Deandre Ayton Needs to Step Up

The Phoenix Suns have found their footing after establishing a four-game winning streak. Tonight, they have an opportunity to go a perfect 5-0 to finish their homestand, a major step in the right direction for a team that was sliding down the Western Conference standings quickly.

There's hope that the Suns can regain Devin Booker soon and build up to their full potential at the right time, yet other dominoes need to fall.

Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes went through ten players who need to step up right here and right now, and to little surprise, Deandre Ayton finds himself on the list:

B/R Says Deandre Ayton Needs to Step Up

"You can't have a discussion about Deandre Ayton's performance without referencing his recent history, starting with last postseason's Game 7 flop against the Dallas Mavericks, the awkward restricted free agency in which the Phoenix Suns let him sign an offer sheet elsewhere before agreeing to bring him back, and the preseason signs that relations between him and the Suns may have been strained," said Hughes.

"All of that could explain why Ayton has looked less than fully engaged at times this season. Statistically, he's posting the lowest player efficiency rating and block rates of his career, and it's never a great sign when a head coach has to harp on a $133 million player for a failure to play with consistent force. Maybe the injury-related absences of Chris Paul, Devin Booker and Cameron Johnson were also to blame. Ayton is a better player when he has more space inside and defenses have to pay attention to perimeter threats.

"Still, it's hard to shake the feeling that the fifth-year center's struggles stem more from a misfiring motor than outside circumstances. It wasn't long ago that Ayton was a critical piece of a great Suns team, playing at an exceptionally high level during their 2021 run to the Finals. He averaged 17.8 points and 13.7 rebounds in the Western Conference Finals against the Clippers, shooting 69.3 percent. Then he put up 14.7 points and 12.0 boards against the Milwaukee Bucks in the Finals, the league's biggest stage.

"Ayton still has that level in him. Considering he's only 24 and has that top-pick pedigree, it's reasonable to believe he has an even higher one.

"Injuries and Jae Crowder's decision to abandon the team while under contract may have dug the Suns into too deep of a hole. But the West is tightly packed beneath the Nuggets and Grizzlies up top, and a surge from Ayton could turn Phoenix's season around. Considering what the Suns are paying him, where they drafted him and how talented Ayton has shown himself to be in the past, it's fair to ask that he step up and do it."

Hughes brings plenty of fair points. There's been times where Ayton has struggled to maintain consistency and even failed to shoulder the load with plenty of people around him out.

For a No. 1 pick, he's yet to show his ceiling on a frequent basis. That's something that fans across the Valley hope can change as crucial pieces around Ayton are brought back.