The spectacular disaster that was Sunday's Game 7 for the Phoenix Suns have left some major question marks on the future of the team's core. The once stable and promising future of Deandre Ayton appears murky, as the 23-year old's disappointing season left his impending restricted free agency as a tough decision for the Suns to make in the offseason.
Head coach Monty Williams' exit interview with reporters Monday didn't clear up anything with regards to the young center. If anything, it made the waters muddier.
āThe Deandre situation is something that we'll deal with this summer,ā the Suns coach said. āI don't want to say anything in regards to that. [General manager] James [Jones] and I are going to have conversations about the team in general.ā
The clearly non-committal answer comes after Williams and Ayton reportedly needed to be separated on the bench during Sunday's loss to the Dallas Mavericks. Ayton played just 17 minutes and Williams didn't elaborate on his playing time Monday. He said the two haven't spoken personally since the Suns were eliminated from NBA title contention.
"From what our man Lil Wayne told me, he was sitting across [from the Suns bench], Monty got so upset with Ayton that he said, 'You freaking quit on us'"
š£ļø Skip Bayless with some insight on what happened between Monty Williams & Deandre Aytonpic.twitter.com/SbtNojdheH
ā ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) May 16, 2022
āI'll keep the internal stuff internal but it was just a decision that I made,ā Williams added. āNo, we haven't talked. I've talked to the team today but I have not talked to DA personally.ā
A curious use of language for Monty Williams?
In an unrelated question during Monday's media availability, reporters asked Williams about the situations his younger players were put in during the Mavs series. His answer was ā¦ interesting, to say the least.
āRight now I look at myself and how do I put those guys into positions where they can be more confident when teams are taking away Book and Chris,ā Williams said. āThe one thing I'm seeing in the playoffs when you watch all these games everybody has three or four guys maybe that can put the ball down and go get a bucket ā¦ Were there opportunities for us to give Mikal [Bridges], Cam [Johnson], Landry [Shamet] more opportunities to play in those one-on-one environments.ā
There was a certain 23 year old impending free agentĀ left out of that answer. Williams could have been specifically commenting on primary ball handlers, but the question referred to young players as a whole, and Deandre Ayton wasn't mentioned.
āI ask myself, am I preparing our guys to do that? I think we have guys that canāMikal [Bridges], Cam Johnson, what I saw from Landry [Shamet] in the postseasonāto compliment what we have in Book and Chris,ā Williams added.
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