The Phoenix Suns matched the $133 million offer to Indiana Pacers' Deandry Eaton, which opens the door for the free player to stay with the team for the next four seasons of the NBA, ESPN reported Thursday.
Quoting the player's agent, ESPN reported that the Suns, who had a deadline until Saturday to match the Pacers' offer, quickly responded to the latter's offer to the Bahamas-born player, which means that the first choice in "Draft" 2018 remains in the team. .
And as a free player restricted to the four-year “beginner” contract that he signed in 2018, the 23-year-old is not entitled to move to any team if his team makes an offer that matches the offer of the team willing to serve him, and this is what happened in the case of Ayton.The Pacers' offer to acquire Eaton, the most expensive free player in the history of the league, surpassed the 107 million dollar offer made by the Brooklyn Nets in 2017 to include Otto Porter Jr., without succeeding in his quest because his Washington Wizards matched the offer and kept his services.It seems that retaining the services of Eaton will complicate the possibility of completing an exchange deal between the Suns and Nets to obtain from the latter the services of Kevin Durant, who wants to leave.
Durant, who won the league twice with the Golden State Warriors and the best player in the league in 2014 in the colors of the Oklahoma City Thunder, caused a shock on June 30 when ESPN reported that he wanted to leave the Nets through a swap deal with the Suns or the Miami Heat. .In light of the new developments, it is not possible for Durant to be in any exchange deal that includes Ayton, who starred last season and led with veteran Chris Paul and Devin Booker Suns to be the best record holder in the league during the regular season, but his career ended in the second round of the “Playoffs.” The Western District lost to the Dallas Mavericks 3-4.
Having matched the contract provided by the Pacers, the Suns will not be able to include iTunes in any exchange deal until January 15, if the player agrees, but if he refuses, the team will not be able to include him in any exchange deal before the end of the first year of the game. Knot.Ayton is one of the best center players in the league, and in the season before last, in which he led the Suns to the league final before losing to the Milwaukee Bucks, he averaged 16.3 points with 10.5 rebounds per game, while his average last season was 17.2 points with 10.2 rebounds.