DeAndre Ayton Is Costing the Phoenix Suns, and the Solution Is Obvious

Deandre Ayton and Nikola JokićAAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post

DENVER—Deandre Ayton’s raw stat line from Tuesday’s 118-102 loss to the Denver Nuggets doesn’t look too shabby.

Fourteen points on 7-of-12 shooting, nine rebounds, two steals and a block.

For someone tasked with defending arguably the best basketball player in the world, that’s decent production. His assignment is surely draining, though perhaps not quite as draining as his minutes have been on the Phoenix Suns’ bottom line during this series.

Ayton was a minus-21 on Tuesday, tied for his series low. His high-water mark in the plus-minus column against Denver is an even zero.

And over all five games, Phoenix has lost his 148 minutes by 59 points (or 19.1 points per 48 minutes). That’s bad. Actually, that’s borderline unrecoverable.

Meanwhile, Ayton’s backup, Jock Landale, was plus-five on Tuesday and is now plus-27 in his 74 minutes.

His basic production for the series—26 points on 11/18 FGs and 21 rebounds—pales in comparison to Ayton’s—54 points on 26/45 FGs and 41 rebounds. But this version of the Suns doesn’t really need basic production out of the 5 spot.

Corny as it may sound, Phoenix needs the stuff that doesn’t show up in the stat sheet.

That gets plenty of stuffing from Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. Even with Chris Paul out, there’s plenty of usage spoken for at the top of the roster. Those two are each averaging over 20 shots per game. And in Phoenix, the Suns averaged 125 points. For the whole postseason, they’re third in points per 100 possessions.

With two of the best isolation and pick-and-roll scorers in basketball operating from the perimeter, Phoenix really doesn’t need a face-up 5.

That’s what Ayton is, and his contributions get pretty tough to find after that.

What the Suns are lacking during those minutes is relentless defense, effort on the glass and opportunistic scoring.

Landale is checking those boxes.

No one is going to stop Nikola Jokić, but Landale at least makes him feel him. He battles. He digs in for the hits on Jokić’s backdowns and does his best to return some fire. For the series, the two-time MVP is shooting 50 percent from the field when defended by Landale, which is a pretty big step down from his regular-season field-goal percentage of 63.2 or the 59.3 he’s shooting against Ayton in this series.

As far as rebounding goes, Landale crashes the paint like a sledgehammer. Against the mostly-bench lineups he’s faced, Denver can’t keep him from grabbing or influencing rebounds, even when sending multiple players to box him out. For the series, he nearly doubles Ayton’s offensive rebounding percentage.

And again, on a team with Durant and Booker (and when he’s healthy, CP3), that will be the only real source of creation a big can provide. Landale’s providing it. Ayton isn’t.

If that leads to put-back opportunities, great. If it leads to more shots for the superstars, even better.

To Ayton’s credit, in the face of criticism and the comparison to Landale, he’s had his teammate’s back, even when his minutes have been limited.

But that isn’t going to change the reality of the plus-minus column. That will take a different level of energy from Ayton.

“They were more physical than us from the beginning.” Booker told reporters after the game. Coach Monty Williams echoed the sentiment, saying they never found anyone to nullify that physicality.

Booker and Williams, of course, weren’t referencing Ayton directly, but he’s the starting center for a perimeter-oriented team. It’s on him to establish the tone. Or, it’s on him to nullify the tone established by the opposition. Generally speaking, Ayton hasn’t done either.

And if this persists, and the Suns come up short of their ultimate goal (which, from the moment they acquired KD, had to be a championship), they’ll have some tough questions to ask about Ayton.

If a Booker- and Durant-led future doesn’t require a face-up 5 (it doesn’t), how can Phoenix justify fully committing to the four-year, $133 million deal he signed last summer?

If you can get more effort and better fit from someone like Landale, who’s making less than $1 million this season, you almost have to gauge the trade market for Ayton.

Of course, it’s too early to definitively go down that road. This series isn’t over, and it’s headed back to Phoenix.

But if the Suns can’t win the next two, most of the numbers are pointing one way.