Nearly a week after the conclusion of regular season, the Phoenix Suns finally know their opponent for the first round of the NBA Playoffs. They'll take on the New Orleans Pelicans in a best-of-seven series beginning Sunday night, after the Pelicans took out the Los Angeles Clippers in Friday's play-in game.

While the Suns will reap the benefits of holding the one-seed in the West, New Orleans is no pushover. It's a team with a solid young core led by a couple of lethal offensive veterans in CJ McCollum and Brandon Ingram. Mikal Bridges will have his hands full on defense with those two, and much of the offensive heavy lifting will come from Devin Booker, who averaged 27 points per game in four games against the Pelicans this season.

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But neither of those guys is going to be the Suns' X-factor in this series. Nor is it Chris Paul, who averaged 17 assists against New Orleans. It's the big man up top that's going to have to step up.

Suns' X-factor against the Pelicans

The Suns' run to the NBA Finals in 2021 was the Deandre Ayton coming-out party. After his first overall selection in the 2018 NBA Draft, Ayton spent the first three years of his career in the shadow of stars like Luka Doncic and Trae Young.

But in last year's playoffs, Ayton was downright efficient. He was a 65% shooter and averaged 15.8 points per game while tacking on nearly 12 boards in 22 games. He kept up the improvement on the offensive end this regular season, averaging 17 points per game.

If there's a weakness to this Suns team, however, it's team rebounding. That's the area that the Milwaukee Bucks exposed in the NBA Finals, and that's the area where they could face some trouble against the Pelicans.

Tough matchup for Ayton

With shortened playoff rotations coming for New Orleans, Ayton will be matched up with Jonas Valanciunas. Ayton struggled on the boards in both games against the Pelicans he played in this year, grabbing five rebounds in each.

Valanciunas simply dominated Ayton on the glass. He earned 17 boards on Feb. 25 in Phoenix and 12 in New Orleans on March 15. Both players are virtually identical numbers-wise, as they're listed at 6-foot-11 and each averaged 17 points per game in the regular season.

Play-style-wise, though, they couldn't be more different. Ayton is a monster in the pick-and-roll with Booker and Paul. His athleticism grants him defensive versatility. He's by no means a “stretch-big” but he's not a paint-lurker either. Ayton's a unique big in today's NBA.

But Valanciunas is exactly the type of center that Ayton struggles against. The Pelicans' center is an anchor in the paint that plays a physical game, while Ayton is more finesse. Valanciunas plays a game that draws fouls — Ayton does not.

The Pelicans and Valanciunas will be a great test for Ayton moving forward in the playoffs. With potential matchups with other bigs that he struggles against like Nikola Jokic and Steven Adams ahead of them, the Suns need Ayton to get going against Valanciunas. If he can hold his own on the glass and avoid getting physically dominated in the paint, the Suns' perimeter game should be enough to propel them to a series win in four or five games.