Basketball

Monty Williams unplugged, 2.0: On Deandre Ayton, moving forward after NBA Finals loss and more


PHOENIX — Harmony can be so fleeting.

That’s true as a general statement, but even more so when it comes to pro sports. You take all these elite athletes, most of whom never chose their specific place of employment to begin with, and try to merge their athletic talents with a managerial team of owners, executives and coaches around them (most of whom they don’t truly know) while working toward the shared goal of winning games and maybe even winning the whole damn thing.

Trust has to be earned — or not. Respect has to be earned — or not. Teamwork has to be prioritized from top to bottom — or not. And so on.

As I made the 20-minute drive from downtown Phoenix to the Suns’ shiny new practice facility on the outskirts of the desert city last week, just hours after their season-opening loss to Denver and three months removed from their finals run that no one saw coming, this was where my thoughts had wandered. And that was before the controversy surrounding Suns owner Robert Sarver would be revealed the next day.

At the time, before Sarver would release a series of statements preemptively denying allegations of sexism and racism in a “proposed” ESPN story, the most concerning Suns situation that was publicly known involved fourth-year big man Deandre Ayton. The 23-year-old who was taken first overall in 2018 — and who had his best moments as a pro during the Suns’ playoff run while playing such a pivotal part in their success — was miffed that he hadn’t been rewarded with a five-year max contract in the offseason.





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