It was Skip Bayless who first dropped the news about Deandre Ayton and Monty Williams nearly going at it during the Phoenix Suns' Game 7 blowout against the Dallas Mavericks in last year's Western Conference Semifinals. It was hip-hop icon Lil' Wayne who served as Skip's informant on the matter, with the rapper sitting courtside and witnessing the ugly incident firsthand.

Now that training camp has started for the Suns and with Ayton dropping a bombshell about not speaking to Ayton since that now-infamous incident, Skip believes that there's simply no coming back for these two (h/t UNDISPUTED on Twitter):

“I am shocked, and in a way, I'm saddened by this because I consider Monty Williams a good man,” Skip said. “I don't know Deandre Ayton, but from a distance, he seems like a good guy.

“It might have been a bridge burner you can't quite rebuild,” Bayless said of the Game 7 shouting match. “… It sounds like Monty also didn't want him back, and DA didn't want to come back. So, now it's so awkward because it's gonna fester throughout the year.”

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While Williams did try to diffuse the situation by saying that he hasn't spoken to many of his players during the summer, there's still no denying that there's tension there. For his part, Skip Bayless clearly believes that this is a deep-rooting feud that simply won't get resolved.

Skip's co-host, Shannon Sharpe, then chimed in by explaining why he believes the Suns kept Ayton in Phoenix in the first place. According to Sharpe, the only reason the Suns opted to match the Indiana Pacers' qualifying offer for Ayton is so that he doesn't walk away for free. Sharpe believes that it's only a matter of time before the team trades Deandre Ayton away at the soonest possible opportunity.