Miami Heat Rumors: Why Would Ayton Help Phoenix Land Durant Anyway?
By Will Salinas
The Kevin Durant sweepstakes are finally here and he has listed both the Miami Heat and the Phoenix Suns as the teams that he would like to be traded to. The first trade idea that might come to mind for the Suns is a sign-and-trade involving Deandre Ayton.
It would send him to the Brooklyn Nets, along with other pieces, which could potentially beat out Miami. However, a rather fair question remains.
Why would Ayton help the Suns out? The Suns have made it quite clear, in both the last offseason and all throughout the regular season, that they wouldn’t be offering Ayton the rookie max extension.
The team has blatantly disrespected him all season and has let it be known that they would let him walk. Now, they possibly want Ayton to cooperate, while trying to reach an agreement with Brooklyn to land Kevin Durant.
Unless Ayton is dying to play in Brooklyn or gets no other offers elsewhere, it would make no sense for him to bail Phoenix out.
Kevin Durant is on the market and both the Miami Heat and Suns are looking to trade for the two-time champion. Deandre Ayton may have to help them, but why?
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Interestingly enough and per Sam Quinn of CBS, that sign-and-trade option goes out the window for Ayton if he ever signs an offer sheet with another team.
Basically, he has full reign to go wherever he wants. Now, Phoenix could, of course, match the offer sheet. However and again, why would they after all that the relationship has entailed.
Ayton is actually in a scenario where he could burn his former team. He holds the keys.
If Ayton signs a deal with another team and should Phoenix not match, that would leave them empty-handed. They would also be broken-hearted as well, knowing they lost out on Durant, while not keeping Ayton and letting him walk for nothing.
This could help the Miami Heat in the long run and big time. If Phoenix can’t get Ayton on board, that leaves just Pat Riley, the one guy you always want closing a deal for you.
Getting Phoenix out of the equation would allow Riley to get a little crazy among an endless amount of offers from other teams. Riley hunts for whales and now has a chance to acquire Shamu.
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If Brooklyn can’t find a deal that suffices, they may be forced to settle, and we could see a deal that maybe doesn’t involve Bam Adebayo. It’s a little too much to stress over right now, but if Ayton can take Phoenix out, the Miami Heat are in a great position to get it done for a very digestible package.