Ayton has long been known as a future franchise center of this Suns team. Losing a young center like Ayton, especially without getting significant compensation in return would be a disaster. He is a restricted free agent giving the Suns the rights to match any contract he receives. You probably know all this stuff already.

But here is where things get crazy and could be devastating news for the Suns if this actually happens. DeAndre Ayton has a qualifying offer worth 16.4 million. If he picks it up instead of declining like most do, he will remain with the team for one more year before he becomes an UNRESTRICTED Free Agent in 2023. Given how unhappy his camp is about the Suns, I wouldn't be surprised if this happens. They decide to make Ayton accept the qualifying offer, play out one more year in Phoenix before having control to do whatever he wants in 2023 free agency which would ultimately result in Ayton leaving with little to no compensation in return for the Suns. If he doesn't pick up the qualifying offer, the Suns can do whatever they want with him and lock him up long term, which is not what Ayton's brass appears to want.

The chances of this nightmare scenario for the Suns happening is unlikely, but I wouldn't be surprised if it does based on the reasons above