The top NBA free agent still on the board is Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton, the former No. 1 overall pick in the draft. The Suns never offered Ayton a max contact, allowing him to reach restricted free agency, and he intends to sign a four-year, $133 million maximum offer sheet with the Indiana Pacers. The Suns have until Saturday at 11:59 p.m. ET to match the largest offer sheet in league history or potentially lose Ayton for nothing. SportsLine offers odds on where Ayton will be playing next season.
Ayton was jus t the second former first overall pick in the lottery era to enter restricted free agency, following injury-plagued Greg Oden. Ayton's record offer sheet surpassed the four-year, $107 million deal signed by Otto Porter Jr. with the Brooklyn Nets in 2017 — a deal the Washington Wizards matched.
There had been talk the Suns might sign-and-trade Ayton in a potential Kevin Durant deal, but trade deals would no longer allowed once Ayton signs the offer sheet with Indiana. According to ESPN's Bobby Marks, because the clock to match doesn't start until midnight tonight, Indiana and Phoenix still have time work out a sign-and-trade before the offer sheet is officially signed. So a swap built around Ayton and Indiana's Myles Turner, which has been rumored for weeks, can still be done — but time is short.'
If the Suns do match the offer sheet, they can't trade Ayton anywhere until at least Jan. 15 and can't trade him to Indiana for a year. The general consensus around the NBA is that it would be hard to see how a Durant trade works for Phoenix now as Ayton was arguably the Suns' biggest trade chip with Devin Booker off the table.'