DeAndre Ayton will explode this season
One of the biggest moves this offseason has been the trade of Chris Paul from OKC to the Pheonix Suns. The move caught a lot of people off-guard, including myself. CP3 had just had a great 1st season with the Thunder. He was an All-Star for the 1st time since 2016 and lead OKC to a surprising 44-28 regular-season record.
Chris Paul reminded us that he is a top 7 point guard of all time and a 1st ballot Hall-of-Famer and that he will not go quietly into retirement. I still think he has 2 more good seasons left in him, and being with the Phoenix Suns might be the perfect situation for him to go out with a bang.
Nobody expects the Suns to do especially well this year, but they should definitely make the Playoffs. Paul has a huge amount of NBA experience, Devin Booker is continuing to improve, and DeAndre Ayton will have a break-out year.
Now is the time for Ayton to assert himself as an All-Star and take the next step in his career, and here’s why he will do it.
Supporting Cast
Right now Ayton is considered the 3rd best player on the Sun’s roster, but expect that to change very soon. The addition of Chris Paul will help Ayton far more than it helps Booker. CP3 will teach Booker some tricks, but it’s the center who will benefit the most from Paul’s presence.
CP3 is one of the best passers the NBA has ever seen and the best lob-passer in the NBA. The pick and rolls that Ayton and Paul will have this season will be their best attacking option. Ayton is very athletic, is 7 feet tall and has a 7’5” wingspan. He is a much more skilled DeAndre Jordan who can hit the jump-hook as well as the 18-foot jumper.
Paul will get Ayton a lot more opportunities this season, and Ayton will capitalize on them.
Contract Year
This being his 3rd NBA season, Ayton will likely be signing his extension with the Suns in the summer of 2021. This means he’s in a contract year and how well he plays will significantly affect how much he will earn going forward.
A brief look at his career-stats so far would easily show he’s worth a max contract, but there are other considerations. At the beginning of last season, Ayton was suspended for 25 games as punishment for testing positive for a diuretic, a banned substance because it makes it easier to expel other banned substances from the body.
This incident means Ayton needs to prove to the Sun’s front-office that he not only has the skills worthy of a max contract but that he has the temperament as well. The Suns want to know they can trust Ayton to be a huge part of their plans going forward and having a breakout season is the best way to do that.
If Ayton can get selected to an All-NBA team this upcoming year it will not only show the Suns that he means business but it will also increase the amount he can earn due to the NBA’s contract-signing rules.
We just saw this with Jayson Tatum. He was in the 3rd year of his rookie deal and he had a breakout season, getting to the All-Star game and earning All-NBA honors.
I expect Ayton to do the same this year.
Big Men Adjustment
One of the widely-perceived truths about the NBA is that big men (centers and power-forwards) usually take longer to adjust to the NBA than smaller players. The jump from College to the National Basketball Association is huge. The pace the game is played, the hectic 82 game schedule plus Playoffs, traveling across the country, the increased physicality, all these take their toll on players with big men particularly affected.
It takes big men’s bodies longer to adjust to the NBA just due to the scale of their bodies. More pressure on the ankle and knee joints, more weight to move around, and the fact that bigs usually play a more physical game than guards.
Ayton hasn’t had a major injury so far, just a few minor issues here and there. He has the body for the NBA and he will have gotten a lot stronger and more durable since his league debut. All this growth will culminate in an explosive season for DeAndre, so lookout.