Deandre Ayton Set to Sign a 4-year, $133 million maximum contract offer sheet with the Indiana Pacers, according to reports from agents in the league.
The former Phoenix Suns center entered the offseason as a restricted free agent center. Phoenix now has two days to match the largest offer sheet in NBA history and hopefully keep Ayton.
Ayton’s offer sheet overtakes prior record-setting numbers including the four-year, $107 million deal signed by Otto Porter Jr. with the Brooklyn Nets in 2017, a deal the Washington Wizards ultimately matched.
If Ayton signs the extension with Indiana, sign-and-trade deals are no longer allowed.
According to reports from ESPN, Ayton has been enthusiastic about the possibility of pairing with talented young guard Tyrese Haliburton and becoming a centerpiece of the Pacers’ rebuild.
Phoenix does have to clear out $4.7 million in cap space to sign Ayton to the max offer sheet. To do that, Indiana is waiving guard Duane Washington and waiving and stretching the three players who arrived in the Boston trade for Brogdon: Malik Fitts, Juwan Morgan and Nik Stauskas.
Ayton — just shy of his 24th birthday –was the No. 1 pick out of Arizona in 2918. He made the All-Rookie first team in 2019, having averaged 16.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. He averaged 17.2 points and 10.2 rebounds this past season, shooting 63.4% from the field and 74.6% from the foul line.
After making the All-Rookie first team in 2019, Ayton grew into a starting center, averaging 16.3 points and 10.5 rebounds leading during its run to the 2021 NBA Finals — the first time the franchise had reached the league’s championship round since Charles Barkley led the Suns there in 1993.
“I don’t think anybody can really say, ‘He should be this, he should be that,;” Suns assistant coach whisperer Mark Bryant said earlier this year. “Deandre’s gonna dictate what he’s gonna be.”
If the Suns match, they can’t move Ayton until Jan. 15, 2023, when he could be traded to any team that isn’t Indiana. The Pacers can only trade for Ayton after a year post-match.
