Suns Trade Deandre Ayton in Three-Team Deal
It finally happened.
The Phoenix Suns have traded Deandre Ayton in a three-team deal that involves Damian Lillard going to the Milwaukee Bucks and Ayton going to the Portland Trail Blazers.
More info:
Adrian Wojnarowski: "Lillard goes Milwaukee as part of a 3-team deal with Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, a 2029 unprotected MIL 1st, and unprotected MIL swap rights in 2028 and 2030 to Blazers. Phoenix lands Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson."
A more basic breakdown from Shams Charania:
The Suns now officially move on from Ayton after he was the team's first No. 1 pick a few years back. Ayton helped Phoenix reach heights such as the 2021 NBA Finals and a regular season record 64 wins the following year.
However, he never truly lived up to the hype and often times had things such as his effort and motor questioned.
Ayton was made a restricted free agent last summer and forced the Suns to match an offer sheet from the Indiana Pacers in order to retain him.
With Monty Williams out of Phoenix, there was some hope that new head coach Frank Vogel would be able to maximize his talents, which was something Vogel spoke on doing through the offseason.
"I think he can be one of the best centers in the league," said Vogel.
"I think he's shown that at times throughout his career, and I know he showed that when we played him in the playoffs a couple years back and he shot about 80% from the field and deterred every drive, every cut, every effort to attack the basket.
"He can be a big time deterrent. There's still areas that he can grow offensively. But I'm intent on really connecting with him and restoring him to an all star level player."
Arizona Sports insider John Gambadoro called the move last week:
"Let me address some of the Deandre Ayton rumors. The Suns have not been willing to move DA all summer because they think he fits well and there were no offers that would change that. If Nurkic was on the table I would be surprised if the Suns didn't look into it because an argument could be made that is an upgrade for Phx," wrote Gambo.
"This would be contingent on Dame being moved. Portland has previously shown no interest in DA but that was with Dame staying. If they do not have Dame on the roster they could very well want a young 25-year old to build around Vogel needs a defensive minded Center to build his defense around and Nurkic does fit that mold. This would be contingent on a Lillard trade and I do expect that to happen very very soon."
The Suns are set to have their Media Day on Monday, Oct. 2.
