The Bahamian Star basketball player Deandre Ayton got traded to the Portland Trail Blazers in a three-team deal this year. Back in 2018, Deandre was the first pick in the NBA draft by the Suns. Ayton was ranked no.1 in the class of 2017, and later, he got into a university in Arizona. After playing a basketball season in the 2017-18 NCAA at university, he got selected as the first overall pick by the Phoenix Suns, and just like most of the other players, he also followed the same trend of playing one season at university and then declaring to the NBA draft.
Deandre Ayton getting into college
There was already a lot of buzz around Deandre Ayton, and he was No.1 of the 2017 class. After that, he got himself into the University of Arizona, where he played a season of NCAA. Being one of the top-ranked players, Ayton still had a lot of confusion about his selection. Being the top player, the pressure was also building up on him, but later on, he got picked up by the Phoenix Suns. In an old interview with ESPN, he talked about the pressure that he had to go through at that time.
“All your friends in your class, they’re always talking about their recruitment. But you have nothing to say. You don’t even know who’s interested in you. There’s just rumors out there. You don’t hear from those guys. Kids have calls coming in and out, I didn’t have that. I didn’t really look forward to getting phone calls and text messages from coaches. I’m not really all up in the hype. I don’t deal with the social media like that.” Ayton said
Just like most of the other elite players, Deandre Ayton followed the same pattern and got himself declared in the NBA draft in his second year of university.
“I might stay two years. I never know. But the plan is one and done,” Ayton said
Three-team deal
In a three-team trade deal involving Milwaukee Bucks, Portland Trail Blazers, and Phoenix Suns, Deandre got traded to the Blazers. In the same deal, Damian Lillard got traded to the Bucks. There was a lot of speculation around Damian’s trade as he expressed his wish to play for the Miami Heat, but unfortunately, that deal couldn’t happen.
FULL TRADE DETAILS:
Bucks receive:
Damian LillardBlazers receive:
Jrue Holiday
Deandre Ayton
Toumani Camara,
2029 1st-round pick
2 pick swaps.Suns receive:
Jusuf Nurkic
Grayson Allen
Nassir Little
Keon JohnsonWOW! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/941dK0Rl6A
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) September 27, 2023
Deandre Ayton’s stats
Averages in 2018-19
- Points: 16.3
- Rebounds: 10.3
- Assists: 1.8
Averages in 2019-20
- Points: 18.2
- Rebounds: 11.5
- Assists: 1.9
Averages in 2020-21
- Points: 14.4
- Rebounds: 10.5
- Assists: 1.4
Averages in 2021-22
- Points: 17.2
- Rebounds: 10.2
- Assists: 1.4
Averages in 2022-23
- Points: 18.0
- Rebounds: 10.0
- Assists: 1.7
Averages in 2023-24 (ongoing)
- Points: 12.5
- Rebounds: 12.0
- Assists: 1.4
