Pacers offer Deandre Ayton largest offer sheet in NBA history

The Phoenix Suns will have 48 hours to respond once the Indiana Pacers’ four-year, $133 million offer to center Deandre Ayton goes through the league office.

The offer sheet represents the largest in NBA history, and Ayton has already verbally agreed with Indiana on the terms.

Indiana’s ploy for the star big puts major pressure on the Suns — who’ve been listed among the favorites to land Kevin Durant in a blockbuster trade — to make a decision surrounding Ayton’s deal. Should the front office fail to match the money, he becomes ineligible for a sign-and-trade, and Phoenix loses Ayton for nothing.

Meanwhile, Ayton gets the big dividends he’s long clamored for, albeit from a different franchise. Unwavering in his belief that he deserved max money, Ayton began lobbying for a long-term extension from the Suns’ brass prior to the 2021-22 season, and was even seen at a one-on-one meeting with team owner Robert Sarver to discuss a deal.

But those conversations netted null results, and Ayton played well the remainder of the regular season, despite the looming uncertainties of his future with Phoenix.

In 58 games, the 23-year-old averaged 17.2 points, 10.2 rebounds and 0.7. blocks per game, while shooting a career-best 63.4% from the field. But the postseason brought about an entirely different theme for the 23-year-old Bahamian.

His on-court production remained swell, as he posted 17.9 PPG and 8.9 rebounds on a 64% shooting clip, but his relations with head coach Monty Williams soured during Phoenix’s blowout Game 7 loss to Dallas during the Western Conference semifinals. Ayton noticeably played just 17 minutes in the affair (13 minutes below his usual output of 30) due to what Williams called “internal” issues.

Williams refused to comment on the altercation following the matchup, and though it was a glaring gash in the team’s armor, it doesn’t mean Ayton’s relationship with the squad was entirely fractured.

And according to Wojnarowski, the Suns are likely the match the offer sheet.

Should the Suns match, they won’t be able to trade Ayton until Jan. 15, and will push the Suns approximately $15 million into the luxury tax, which the team has vehemently avoided throughout most of the decade. Ayton would also receive veto power on any trade for the next year.

In Jason McIntyre’s eyes, losing Ayton would be a horrid loss for Phoenix.

“This is devastating,” he said Thursday on “The Herd.”

“They took him before Luka Dončić, and now you’re going to lose him for nothing? That’s crippling. Now you can’t even trade for Kevin Durant. They were in the Finals two years ago. They’re going to tumble down to six, seven, eight in the West.”