Since entering the league as the first pick in the 2018 Draft, Deandre Ayton has been a walking double-double for the Phoenix Suns, averaging 16.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game in his first five seasons in the league.
However, he has also been endlessly frustrating for Suns fans, who see his effort level fluctuate wildly from game-to-game (or even quarter-to-quarter), particularly on the defensive end. Ayton has a propensity to get frustrated when he doesn’t feel involved enough offensively, which is easy to happen on a team like the Suns with so many strong, on-ball offensive playmakers. This year, they’ll have even more with Bradley Beal joining Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, and it will be the challenge for Frank Vogel to get Ayton to buy-in to his role and also to figure out how to keep him involved enough to keep him engaged in the game.
It’s also on Ayton to find that internal drive to make an impact on the game even with limited touches, particularly on the defensive end where he holds the key for how good the Suns can be on that end. He has the tools to be an excellent defender and has showed glimpses of that potential, but can’t be prone to the same kinds of lapses on that end. It appears the backlash he’s felt since the 2021 Finals run, when he was terrific, has worn on Ayton — including a spat with former coach Monty Williams at the end of the 2022 Playoffs — but he’s now trying to use it as motivation this summer.
In a recent interview with Eyewitness News Bahamas, Ayton opened up about feeling like he has “no fans” and how he’s trying to find motivation in changing the narrative about himself.
SPORTS: “I can feel the whole world hating me,” Deandre Ayton.
Phoenix Suns Center Deandre Ayton opens up about last season and says he aims to “change the narrative” when he returns to the court in October. pic.twitter.com/2vMbE1tc5E
— Eyewitness News Bahamas (@ewnewsbahamas) July 19, 2023
“I can feel the whole world hating me, in a way,” Ayton says. “Where I think I’m the guy a lot of people point that. And I see that, feel that. Mainly what I’ve been working on five, six days a week since we lost, is motivating myself to change the narrative of what people think about me. Because, no matter how you put it, I feel like I have no fans out here. And I can feel it because the whole world is saying it. And my goal this whole summer is to change the narrative. Unlock whatever it is, and just completely focus on me and change the whole thing.”
Ayton has not been particularly beloved in Phoenix — spending this summer very publicly on the trade blocks — in large part due to the fluctuations in effort and the appearance he’s pouted when things don’t go his way. It seems he’s trying to change that and focus on what he needs to do in order to find that inner drive to embrace the role he’s got on the Suns, we’ll just see if that sticks through the whole season.
While understandable why Ayton, who has a ton of offensive skill, would want more touches, he’s also now on a team with three excellent on-ball perimeter options — and won’t have a true point guard to feed him anymore. Those touches likely aren’t going to increase, so the question is can he find the motivation in bringing the defense and rebounding this team needs to be great, while letting scoring the ball be a secondary concern. That’s easier said than done, but it does seem Ayton is trying to take this all to heart and turn some of the hurt from feeling unwanted in Phoenix into a motivator to flip fans back in his favor. Time will tell if he is successful at that, and it will all be dependent on this Suns superteam reaching its full potential.
