You almost have to hand it to Deandre Ayton: He’s elite at holding grudges and you won’t find someone who looks more miserable after signing a $133 million contract.
The Phoenix Suns were bounced in the second round last season after an embarrassing 33-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks in Game 7. While the entire team struggled in the huge blowout loss, Ayton only played 17 minutes. And after the game, head coach Monty Williams revealed that the benching was an “internal” decision.
Obviously, frustration is understandable after a huge letdown like that. But Ayton and Williams have had four months to talk through those differences and focus on the upcoming season. Surely, they took advantage of that time to smooth things out, right?
Yeah … guess again.
Deandre Ayton said he and Monty Williams have not spoken about their sideline incident in Game 7: pic.twitter.com/Z9rHYHr5yX
— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) September 27, 2022
Ayton, speaking at Suns practice Tuesday, told reporters that he still hasn’t spoken to his head coach since Game 7. Like, they’ve spent the past two days in the same building and still have not talked to each other, which is a wild thing to admit.
On top of that, Ayton didn’t seem thrilled to be back in Phoenix this season when asked in media day about his reaction to the Suns matching the Pacers’ offer sheet.
Suns center Deandre Ayton kept his answer short when he was asked about the team matching the Pacers' offer sheet. pic.twitter.com/SmRToIUYDQ
— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) September 26, 2022
That’s not the best approach to take ahead of a new season, and honestly fans couldn’t believe that Ayton even admitted that.
This was how Twitter reacted
I’m impressed by Phoenix’s ability to have worse vibes than the Nets https://t.co/SZ1BIbMVAS
— Alec Sturm (@Alec_Sturm) September 27, 2022
Yeeeeeeesh https://t.co/kRlzQAj8rb
— Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) September 27, 2022
If every team above them implodes I like the Knicks chances. https://t.co/h9XOVFdZno
— Steve Popper (@StevePopper) September 27, 2022
"Yeah, i'm alright." https://t.co/UbASviiT2p pic.twitter.com/9cKM9WJgik
— Luka⁷⁷ updates 🇸🇮 (@LukaUpdates) September 27, 2022
monty williams completely skating off reputation at this point. how do you not get this straight after the suns match his offer sheet https://t.co/ggfBHiEW7D
— david potts (@dpottzzz) September 27, 2022
this whole interview is big yikes https://t.co/2C8gUwt3X9
— Dalton Johnson (@DaltonJ_Johnson) September 27, 2022
They can't even move Ayton until Jan 15th. This situation needs some resolution. https://t.co/xrKSqxjXMJ
— Vinay K. (@vkillem) September 27, 2022
when i saw the ayton quote tweeted out i was like "well surely it's not this bad in full context." incorrect, the full video is worse! https://t.co/kBnjNFrrHG
— Robby Kalland (@RKalland) September 27, 2022
Look, I hate when people on social take these interviews and try to read into player body language, or read between the lines and such to draw conclusions….
But this man seems pretty unhappy https://t.co/BRiP1lw4Gt
— Kevin Fippin (@kfippin) September 27, 2022
If they don’t sort this out soon, it could get awfully dramatic in Phoenix.
