Recent moves by the Phoenix Suns will benefit Deandre Ayton

With the NBA in the midst of their off-season, the Phoenix Suns have been making some big moves, all of which should help former Wildcat Deandre Ayton.

It has been a busy off-season in the NBA, and in case you haven’t been following or don’t follow, the Phoenix Suns have been making some pretty big moves thus far. But what does that mean for our former Wildcat, Deandre Ayton?

We are now entering year three of the Deandre era in Phoenix, and so far we have been seeing the progression and continued development of the former No. 1 pick. However, if there were ever an important off-season for him, it is this one.

Arizona Wildcats

As you may recall, Ayton and the Suns went on a remarkable 8-0 winning streak inside the NBA Playoff Bubble, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough as Phoenix just missed the playoffs. Nonetheless, in arguably their best season since 2013-14, Ayton’s 18.2 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, were a big reason in the Suns finishing 34-39.

This year, a lot is going to be expected of him, especially as players like Luka Dončić and Trae Young continue to garner most of attention from that 2018 Draft Class.

Well luckily for Ayton, he could be in store for a huge year. And just as we have seen numerous blockbuster trades and free agent signings this off-season, perhaps none bigger than the trade for NBA superstar point guard, Chris Paul.

While Suns’ guard Devin Booker likely stands to benefit here with the addition of Paul, it is Ayton that may perhaps benefit the most here.

Not only from a veteran leadership standpoint, or providing mentorship, but more importantly, Paul will help his production. When Paul was in Los Angeles playing for the Clippers, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan benefitted a lot by playing with Paul.

To me, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that his strength in passing, facilitating, and running pick and rolls, Paul is going to help give Ayton more opportunities to score and make an impact. Per 36.0 minutes, Ayton averaged 20.1 points and 12.7 rebounds, and that’s on a 23.1 usage percentage, ranking 92nd overall in that category.

For those that don’t know, usage percentage is an estimate of the percentage of a teams’ plays used by a player while that player was on the floor. So by comparison, players like Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, Karl Anthony-Towns and Nikola Jokić, all players similar to Aytons’ position, all get the ball more.

Just imagine what Ayton could do if he were to get a few more targets per game? So hopefully you can now see what I am alluding to by thinking the Suns’ off-season has been good one for Ayton so far!

Now granted, he still is going to need to continue to put in the work in order to get better and take that next step, but make no mistake, this is a great addition that will help him immensely.

Need a reminder of just how good he is, take a look!

At Zona Zealots, we are excited for Ayton and can’t wait to see what he can do this season. As always, Bear Down!