Brian Windhorst Is At It Once Again! This Time With His Sights Set On Deandre Ayton

Dylan Buell. Getty Images.

I'm trying really hard to not overplay the Brian Windhorst meme. I understand it gets a lot of play. I understand it's probably worn out. But look, if he's going to keep dropping trade nuggets what choice do I have? It's in the blogging commandments to use that picture when it makes sense and my friends, we have ourselves another chance for Windy to make the likes of Woj and Shams bow their heads and pay their respect to the new GOAT in town. 

The entire basketball world is waiting on two things really when it comes to the NBA offseason. The Nets trade and the Suns' Ayton situation. It's basically all we have left unless you're a Cavs fan and are still wondering about Collin Sexton's restricted free agency or who the Celt could sign as a 3rd big for the minimum. The point is, those two huge dominos that could very well help shape how the NBA looks for the 2022-23 season are still in the balance with the possibility of news coming any second.

The reason the Pacers are often talked about as a possible Ayton landing spot is basically because for some reason they hate Myles Turner like poison. I mean what is going on with that? They've been trying to trade him for no less than 4 years. First, it was to the Celtics, then there was buzz about him and the Hornets, and now it's the Suns. He may not be a perfect player, but he doesn't suck or anything and he's not even on that bad of a contract at this point! He's an expiring $17.5M so I guess it does finally make sense to try and get something for him if you don't plan on keeping him, but they've legit been trying to trade him since the day he signed that 4/80M extension. 

So what's the hold up? You heard Windy. They needed to finalize everything in regards to the Malcolm Brogdan trade as well as some other roster moves so that they would have enough cap space to even entertain this idea. That looks like it'll be wrapped up any day now

Looks like there's a lot of smoke around what Windy was suggesting. There aren't a ton of teams out there with the space to even offer Ayton the max offer sheet he covets

so the real question comes down to if the Pacers do end up finding a way to open up enough space, do they even entertain the idea of a S&T? If you have the money to do it, you don't have to help the other side with a S&T. We know this because the Knicks basically told the Mavs to go fuck themselves when it came to Jalen Brunson

Sometimes teams play nice, like with the Rozier/Hornets deal or the Knicks/Fournier deal, but there's no rule that says you have to do something as a S&T if you have the room to do it without one. If the Pacers aren't willing to help the Suns out, that puts them in a bit of a pickle no? We know the team is in no way going to match a max offer sheet for Ayton, so if they don't and he leaves to go to the Pacers, they get zero assets back. That's….tough. At least in a S&T they could get a pretty good player on Turner despite him being an expiring deal. The only other center on their roster right now is Bismack Biyombo. That feels like it could be an issue.

There's always the chance that the Pacers can't find those final small moves to fully open up the max slot and instead just settle on the S&T since they'll then need the Suns help in order to execute the move. I wouldn't completely rule that out obviously. 

The weirder part of this entire fiasco is the fact that the Suns are legit done with the #1 pick who is just 23 years old coming off a 17/10 season. H'es been a consistent 16/10 guy since he stepped into the NBA, and I get there are some nonbasketball things at play here but even still it's not all that often you see a team want nothing to do with a franchise center at this age who is capable of stuff like this

So he wanted to get paid, who cares? Everyone gets paid these days. It's not as if he's asking for Jokic money and $53M a year. Mitchell Robinson for example just got $15M a year this offseason. I'd say Ayton is much better than him. In today's market a 23 year old franchise center who produces gets paid He's eligible for that 5/176M extension if it came via the Suns which is a hefty $35M which would make him the 2nd highest paid center next season only trailing Rudy Gobert (KAT/Jokic extensions don't start yet). If it's just the Pacers max offer sheet, you're looking at 4/131M, which is $32M. That has him slightly below Embiid and Jokic.

When you look at it that way, it's a little insane. Ayton is in no way at the level of those guys, even with all his talent. But when you're the Pacers, what exactly is the point of all that cap space? Is a top free agent going to come to Indiana? No chance. Quick, who is the best FA that recently decided to come to the Pacers? Is it Malcolm Brogdon? That was a sign and trade so I'm not sure I want to count it. When you have a chance to bring in a talent like Ayton that you probably wouldn't get if he had his choice of teams, I can understand why you pull the trigger. Plus, his age aligns with the youth movement currently going on with the Pacers so it makes some sense in theory.

All I know is if Windy is going on TV and talking like this, that means the Shams/Woj bomb is on the way. It's probably in their drafts as we speak. The second they get the word that Brogdon passed his physical they are going to smash the send button and one of the big dominoes will be off the board. At least I hope. If the Suns are thinking of holding off on some sort of S&T until the Durant fiasco is also figured out, well this thing could take a while and nobody wants that.