Suns match $133M max offer sheet from Indiana Pacers to keep Deandre Ayton in Phoenix

Deandre Ayton isn’t going anywhere.

The Suns have matched a max offer sheet from the Indiana Pacers of four years, $133 million for the restricted free agent to keep their starting center in Phoenix, sources confirmed to USA TODAY Network on Thursday evening.

The Stadium's Shams Charania tweeted about the match Thursday evening. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski later reported the match as well.

The Pacers and Ayton initially agreed to the max offer sheet Thursday afternoon. Once Ayton signed it, the Suns had 48 hours to match it. And they did.

By matching the offer, the Suns can't trade Ayton to Indiana and Ayton has veto power on a trade to the remaining 28 teams for a year.

The move means the Suns — at least for now — keep their nucleus of Ayton and the All-Star backcourt of Devin Booker and Chris Paul. The trio pushed Phoenix to the NBA Finals in 2021 and a franchise-record 64 wins last regular season.

The Suns can't trade Ayton until Jan. 15.

Sources told The Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, last week that the Pacers were seriously interested in Ayton. Ayton's agent, Bill Duffy, was even watching the Pacers play last week at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

Then ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported Monday the Pacers were looking to deliver an offer sheet to Ayton as early as Monday after the trade of Malcolm Brogdon to the Celtics became official. The Pacers proceeded to make what ESPN reported as the largest offer sheet in NBA history to Ayton.

The Suns’ move is a blow to the Pacers, who were hoping to add Ayton as a pivotal piece in a promising young core that includes 22-year-old point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who was acquired in a February trade with Sacramento.

The journey to this point began in the 2021 NBA playoffs when Ayton, the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft, raised his level of playing in helping the Suns reach the NBA Finals.

Although the Suns lost to the Bucks in six games, the thought was that they'd pay Ayton going into the final year of his initial four-year rookie deal.

Ayton went into the 2021-22 season seeking a rookie max extension of five years, $172 million, but talks between his representatives and the Suns broke down to the point the two sides couldn't agree on any extension at all.

"One thing about me, throughout my whole life, I've always learned to control what I can control," Ayton said after the season opener about not getting a rookie max extension. "At the same time, obviously I'm disappointed, but I'm still trying to get us back to the finals. I've still got to represent the team and myself as well. I'm just a competitor, man. Just like to compete to the best and every time I'm in between those lines, that's what you're going to see out of me. Nothing else."

Ayton would've filled the second allotted rookie max extension an NBA team can have.

Booker has the first.

The Suns proceeded to win a franchise-record 64 games in the regular season with Ayton being their second-leading scorer behind All-Star Devin Booker.

Averaging 17.2 points a game on a career-best 63.4% shooting, Ayton averaged a double-double for a fourth straight season. The Suns went into the playoffs as the No. 1 overall seed, but fell short of returning to the finals for a second straight season.

The fourth-seeded Mavs eliminated them in the Western Conference semifinals as blasted the Suns by 33 points in Game 7 at Footprint Center.

To make matters worse, Ayton got into a verbal exchange with Suns coach Monty Williams when Williams took him out of the game with 8:26 left in the third quarter with Phoenix trailing by 38 points.

Ayton was never put back into Game 7 as he finished with a playoff-low five points.

After the game, Williams was asked why Ayton only played 17 minutes.

"It's internal," he said.

The next day, Williams, during his exit media Zoom media availability, said he and Ayton didn't talk after the game.

"No, we didn’t,” Williams said when asked if he and Ayton talked after the game. “You guys know me well enough, I’m going to do everything I can to help us win games and at that point with the lead where it was, I made a decision not to put him back in the game.”

From there, talk swirled around the league that the Suns should do a sign-and-trade with Ayton to get some talent in return, but Suns General Manager James Jones made it clear the Suns looked to keep the team together.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Suns match Pacers' $133M offer to keep Deandre Ayton