Phoenix Suns did well trading Deandre Ayton when they did

Former Phoenix Suns player Deandre Ayton is making headlines again for the wrong reasons.

This time, the Portland Trail Blazers center is turning heads for saying "I got nothing to prove in this league. I’m a max player, and I’ll continue to be a max player.”

Ayton made his comments to veteran NBA writer Mark Medina of the Basketball Intelligence newsletter and they created quite a stir on social media, with many slamming his attitude.

Of course, Ayton's play of late isn't proving much to anyone.

He has scored 12 points, six points and five points in his previous three games. For the season,  he is averaging 12.5 points per game, 10.3 rebounds per game, 1.5 assists per game and 53.1% shooting from the field for Portland, who is currently 12-31 on the season, the second-worst record in the Western Conference.

There were some who lamented the Suns trading Ayton in the offseason in a 3-team deal that included the Suns receiving Jusuf Nurkic, Nassir Little, Keon Johnson and Grayson Allen.

But some of those people might not be lamenting that trade now.

Nurkic is averaging 11.9 points per game, 10.6 rebounds per game, 3.6 assists per game and is 49.5% from the field. Allen is averaging 13.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.

Some on social media certainly seem to think the Suns made the right move in trading Ayton when they did, judging from reaction to the center's latest comments.

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In the interview, Ayton said he's trying to be a good teammate and help the Blazers win.

“I’m letting them know how teams respect me in this league to where they can benefit off of it. I don’t always have to be a scorer or an offensive-minded big night in and night out,” Ayton told Medina. “But just the work that I’ve been putting into with this league, teams overreact to everything that I do on the offensive end, whether it’s a roll to the basket, crashing the glass, setting good screens, slipping screens. They’re going to react with you just putting pressure on that rim. Our guys should just learn how to play point-five actions where it’s catch-and-shoot or it’s making a play for your teammate.”

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Revisiting the Deandre Ayton trade for the Suns

The Suns are currently 25-18, in sixth place in the NBA's Western Conference, with Allen and Nurkic fan favorites.

After the Ayton trade in September, we asked readers to grade the deal for Phoenix and 20.7% gave the Suns an A, 30.5% gave the team a B, 28.4% gave Phoenix a C and 20.4% gave the team a D or F.

We also asked readers for their reaction to the deal for the Suns and 25.9% voted that they "loved it," while 31.9% responded that they "liked it."

28.2% responded "Don't like it" and 14% said, "Really don't like it."

It's still early, but the Ayton trade currently looks like a win for the Suns.

How would you grade it for Phoenix now?

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Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Deandre Ayton comments slammed by Phoenix Suns fans