Deandre Ayton Will Reportedly Sign An Offer Sheet With Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers and former number one overall pick Deandre Ayton have come to an agreement on a four-year contract, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports.

The deal reportedly totals $133 million in value, the maximum amount that Indiana is permitted to pay Ayton on a four-year contract. It would start at $30.9 million in 2022-23.

The agreement, as Wojnarowski points out, is an offer sheet to Ayton as he is a restricted free agent. If a restricted free agent signs an offer sheet, their incumbent team (in this case, the Phoenix Suns) has what is called the right of first refusal, which allows them to “match” the contract and retain the player. If Ayton puts pen to paper on the four-year deal on July 14th, the Suns would then have until the end of the day on the 16th to decide if they wanted to match the contract. If Phoenix matches, they retain Ayton under the terms of the offer sheet he signed with Indiana.

By all accounts and as of this writing, Ayton has yet to physically sign the deal, which is noteworthy. That gives Phoenix and Indiana time to work out a sign-and-trade, which could allow the 2021 Western Conference champions to receive assets in exchange for Ayton, who they would send to Indiana. But if the two teams don’t come to an agreement on a trade, then Ayton would sign the offer sheet with Indiana.

The Pacers, at the time the agreement was reported, did not have enough salary cap space to offer Ayton a deal that starts at over $30 million. To clear the room, Indiana will waive the contracts of Nik Stauskas, Malik Fitts, and Juwan Morgan, who the Pacers acquired in a trade earlier this week, Wojnarowski reports. They will use the stretch provision to spread their cap hits over three seasons.

In addition to slashing those three deals, Indiana will also waive guard Duane Washington and his non-guaranteed contract. Washington’s deal would have become fully guaranteed if he was not waived before the end of Friday the 15th. The Pacers freed up an additional $1.6 million in cap room by cutting the young ball-handler, and when combined with the space freed up by stretching other contracts, this allowed Indiana to offer Ayton the $133 million contract.

This is a massive move from the Pacers organization. It is atypical for the franchise to even attempt to acquire a player at Ayton’s talent level as a free agent, and they have never signed a player to a contract this large. Team owner Herb Simon has typically avoided pursuing restricted free agents as well — he dislikes the process. This agreement between Ayton and the Pacers is a change in stance for the organization, and it could push the team’s rebuild forward rapidly if they land the 23-year old.

Rumors of the Pacers’ interest in Ayton date back to February’s trade deadline, where multiple reports connected Indiana and the former Arizona Wildcat. Now, the team has a chance to acquire Ayton without needing a trade if Phoenix doesn’t match. The big man would form a dynamic partnership with young guard Tyrese Haliburton, who Indiana acquired just before the aforementioned trade deadline.

Kevin Pritchard, the Pacers President of Basketball Operations, detailed earlier in the offseason that Indiana is looking to become a younger, more athletic, and more dynamic team. Adding Ayton helps accomplish all of those goals and brings the Indiana Pacers into a new era. The next 48 hours, the match period for Phoenix, could have franchise-altering ramifications for the Indiana Pacers, who will hope they can steal Deandre Ayton away from the Suns.