Booker is most likely will ask out if they blow it up, he was tired of losing and he now has a little taste of being on a winning team I can't see him waiting a few years in his prime.
Devil's advocate: You had the best record in the NBA last year, run it back and see what happens. Sure, you have the GSW and Memphis to deal with, but it's a long season and you never know who gets injured or what. He isn't worth max, but if they don't win out after this season, they can trade him or just build around Booker and Ayton with that albatross CP3 contract gunking everything up.
Best decision for phx. Theyre still clearly contenders. So much for phx owner being cheaper than the cheapest owner in the league Tilman
He who shall not be named believes that these contracts won't seem so outrageous once the NBA signs new TV deals.
I don't know, people keep saying he's not worth "the max," like there's one single "max." There are different levels of maximum deals based on years in the league--Ayton's "max" is not like the max for a veteran like Durant or Beal or Curry. While Lillard's getting ~$60M/year on his max extension, Ayton's is just over $30M. Very different proposition. Considering maxes already artificially constrain (top) players' salaries below their actual value (to revenues and winning), I'm not sure Ayton isn't worth ~$33M per year during young-prime years. Even if it is an overpay, it's not a large one IMO and the Suns are much closer to winning a title with him at that salary than without him and his salary but still over the cap. Ayton isn't like Gobert, where he loses value in the playoffs. He can not only protect the rim, he's capable of switching onto perimeter players and not embarrassing himself. He has a decent post game to abuse small mismatches if a team tries to go small and he has a decent jumper. He's not a superstar, but the rookie max isn't superstar money. He is fairly close to an ideal center in this day and age and he's still young enough that he may still have some improvement left to go and, barring injury, he's definitely not going to decline at all. In my opinion, matching was an absolute no-brainer from a basketball perspective. The only question was whether Sarver was going to be willing to pay the freight.
Is it really slick of them not to give Ayton the MPJ special? They are paying him as much as he could possibly make anywhere else, he hasn't been slighted.
Phoenix was in a non-win situation here. Indiana however just cleared that cap space for nothing. AFAIK those moves that did to be able to offer the contract can't be undone. Also, I imagine Myles Turner isn't super pleased either now.
@Reeko , you know that bad juju you were talking about in the Sarver thread... Crowder being traded, weird situation. Ayton and Coach don't talk, weird. Sarver was finally caught last year. I wonder what's next.
anything is on the table Chris Paul carries a powerful curse the likes of which we have never seen before in the NBA 0-27 from 3 is not normal…2 owners deleted…losing by 100 at home to the Mavs in a game 7…blowing a 3-1 lead because u can’t beat Brewer and Josh Smith at home Idk who’s Haitian auntie he upset, the bad juju is off the charts
I would advise any team to refrain from acquiring CP3 until an exorcism has been performed…team owners beware
instead he cancelled our championship dreams 0-27 is a statistical anomaly, but anything’s possible with the curse of CP3
