[Charania]: Portland buys out DeAndre Ayton

[rambo_ortega]

It will come down to Hornets who can pay him or a chance to prove himself with either Celtics, Lakers or Dubs

[Skybox]

Inevitable reality...he'll have one more stop in the NBA and, most likely, blow it again...go to China, be treated like a God

[Scoot McGroot]

I'd be surprised if something isn't lined up already for him in FA. He and the Blazers must know what he's worth, which would make the buyout amount make sense for the Blazers.

Likely he's looking for a 3 year 100M contract and Blazers obviously wont do that since they have 3 centers. Also sign and trade is weird because the teams that are willing to give him that contract dont have contracts the Blazers want (Lakers is one I think). So Ayton could actually agree to an MLE deal with Lakers knowing Lakers can re-sign him to that 3 year 100M contract after next season or even yet, maybe 5 year 140M as a discount rate.

It takes 3 years before a player gets full Bird Rights with a team, so unless LA is planning on letting Lebron walk just so they can use that cap space to offer Ayton a large offer, LA would be limited to raises based off his MLE offer for a couple years. The 3 year wait for Bird Rights exists solely to keep a team from signing someone for one year and then giving them the huge contract a year later, that they couldn't have otherwise offered.

[Scoot McGroot]

Inevitable reality...he'll have one more stop in the NBA and, most likely, blow it again...go to China, be treated like a God

I think he's still got a few years of the TMLE to NTMLE level salary and bouncing around the league before he needs to go to China?

But really, it all depends on his "motivation".

[jayjaysee]

Never have believed in Ayton but I’m really surprised LAL or Charlotte or Dumars didn’t make Portland an offer that beats paying him to go away..

[Scoot McGroot]

Never have believed in Ayton but I’m really surprised LAL or Charlotte or Dumars didn’t make Portland an offer that beats paying him to go away..

Scotto reported that they had a decent amount of offers, but couldn't find anything that didn't require them taking on future money, and apparently, they would only take expirings back? I assume that Ayton then offered to give back a good amount, so they agreed to a buyout?

[Mavrelous]

Never have believed in Ayton but I’m really surprised LAL or Charlotte or Dumars didn’t make Portland an offer that beats paying him to go away..

Scotto reported that they had a decent amount of offers, but couldn't find anything that didn't require them taking on future money, and apparently, they would only take expirings back? I assume that Ayton then offered to give back a good amount, so they agreed to a buyout?

Yeah, finding 36M expiring that with ~15M production isn't an easy task, Lakers would have needed to include Hachimura who alone is more valauable than Ayton, and then add 2 contracts that could be trade pieces.
Buyout was the only option.

[amcoolio]

I believe in contract year Ayton, he will dial it up. Not MLE contract Ayton though. Teams should be looking at giving him a 1 year deal and "promise" a bigger contract with good play, then just let him go after this year instead

[gswhoops]

In theory, if he goes to the LAKERS and performs well, they could pay him next year, right? I think with Luka spoon-feeding him and in a contract year, he could return to that good version of the Suns alongside CP3.

It takes 3 years for a team to get Bird rights, so they'd have to either clear cap space or sign him with the MLE/another exception

[basketballwacko2]

I'd say the Lakers and the Hornets have the best shot at signing him IDK who can give him the most money. I'd think it would be less pressure on Ayton to play for Charlotte.

[BK_2020]

So many teams are in the tax people have to say NTMLE instead of just MLE to get the point across.

[cucad8]

Read on Twitter

Pretty good for the Blazers

[chrbal]

I don’t know if they need another center, but the Pacers could do something really funny here

[vxmike]

I don’t know if they need another center, but the Pacers could do something really funny here

Ayton is literally 100% the opposite of what the Pacers do which is hustle 48 minutes.

[gswhoops]

I don’t know if they need another center, but the Pacers could do something really funny here

Ayton is literally 100% the opposite of what the Pacers do which is hustle 48 minutes.

Ayton would 100% think that Indy was bringing him in to run the offense while Haliburton recovers

[Devilanche]

Never have believed in Ayton but I’m really surprised LAL or Charlotte or Dumars didn’t make Portland an offer that beats paying him to go away..

Salary matching probably was hard and Portland wanted expirings only is my best guess .