After Paul left the Rockets, he showed everyone how a veteran helped the team win, led the Thunder who were preparing to rebuild to play fifth in the regular season, lost 7 games in the playoffs and rocket wars, came to the Suns directly to 51 wins and 21 losses, ranked second in the West, stood on the stage of the Finals in the case of not being optimistic, although it failed to win the championship in the end, but also exceeded the team's expectations, and Paul jumped out of the player option of the last year in the offseason. Reaching a new contract with the Suns for 4 years and 120 million yuan, "diluting" his salary into the next few years, also provided more flexibility for the team's reinforcements.
The Suns are a young team, in addition to Booker and Paul have been awarded a big contract, the other major rotation players are basically in the rookie contract period, the same Year Doncic, Trae Young, Alexander and even Porter Jr. have received a 5-year maximum salary, originally thought that the Suns will also give priority to Ayton to provide a similar contract, in fact, the team is only willing to provide him with a 4-year maximum salary, as the 2018 top show, which is difficult for Ayton to accept, and then the Suns renewed Bridges with 4 years and 90 million, and Ayton completely collapsed He also provided Shamet, who had just been traded, with a contract of 4 years and 43 million yuan.
For fans, it must have been very difficult to understand the operation of the Suns at the beginning, after all, Ayton averaged 14.4 points and 10.5 boards and 1.2 caps per game last season, shooting 62.6% from the field, which is still very efficient, but this season in the 14 games that Ayton missed, the Suns still achieved 11 wins and 3 losses, Ayton's absence did not make the Suns' strength decline, and in the game against the Heat, Ayton just returned, the team defeated the Heat 23 points without major generals, Ayton only got 12 points and 8 boards. Plus-minus - 23 the team is second to last, and it is really very embarrassing to let yurt Severn, who lost last year's draft with him, blast 7 points, 16 boards and 8 assists.
In the small-ball era, it is not easy for the center position to get the top salary, either like Gobert with DPOY level defense, or like Jokic's all-round skills, or like Embiid's explosive scoring, but Ayton has certain offensive skills, but there is no top single scoring ability, the defensive outside line can not keep up, the defensive inner line does not have dominance, it seems that some "not up", Ayton's most criticized is to play "soft", whether it is offensive or defensive, Feelings are lacking in passion.
More critically, in the team with Paul, the center's data is too good to take, in the last 6 games that Ayton missed, the team's rookie Jaylen Smith got the opportunity to perform, he averaged 25.5 minutes per game, he can cut 15.8 points, 10.2 boards and 1 cap, shooting 55.4%, three-point shooting rate reached 38.5%, this data is not inferior to Ayton at all. To know that Smith last season can be only 2 points and 1.4 boards, the team's other center McLathy basic season as Ayton's substitute, averaging 16 minutes per game was fed 10.2 points 7.2 boards 0.8 cap data, shooting rate as high as 65.4%, even the 10-day contract temporary worker Bi Yongbo, 3 games average 9 points and 5 boards, shooting 73.3%, all kinds of signs show that Ayton's fungibility in the team is too strong.
Of course, the Suns do not want to renew Ayton's contract with maximum salary, and another reason is that the team also has a player who also needs to stay with all his strength, this player is Cameron Johnson, he is the first round of the 11th show in 2019, he is 2 meters 03 tall, his physical fitness is very good, and he has been improving for three years in his career, averaging 11.9 points and 4.3 boards in 25.6 minutes this season, and the third-point shooting rate is 43.8% The eighth in the league. Averaging 2.5 shots per game, he is getting better and better defensively, and is moving in the direction of top 3D, with his next contract reaching at least an annual salary of more than 15 million.
Next year's offseason Crowder's contract is about to expire, the Suns in order to remain competitive, will certainly choose to reach a multi-year contract with Johnson, he and Bridges will become the team's forward combination, the two people attack and defend well, there is a great outside deterrent, plus Paul and Booker, as long as the inside line with a pure blue-collar center, can make the team remain strongly competitive, it seems that Ayton's prospects for the Suns are not very optimistic.