1. Early life

2. High school career
    Recruiting 

3. College career

4. Professional career
    Phoenix Suns (2018–present) 

5. Player profile

6. Career statistics
    College 

7. Accomplishments and awards

8. National team career

9. Endorsements

10. References

11. External links

• Balboa City School
  (San Diego, California)
• Hillcrest Prep Academy
  (Phoenix, Arizona)

• Consensus first-team All-American (2018)
• Karl Malone Award (2018)
• Pac-12 Player of the Year (2018)
• First-team All-Pac-12 (2018)
• Pac-12 Freshman of the Year (2018)
• Pac-12 Tournament {{abbr|MOP|Most Outstanding Player}} (2018)
• McDonald's All-American (2017)
• Jordan Brand Classic (2017)

Deandre Edoneille Ayton (born July 23, 1998) is a Bahamian professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played for the Arizona Wildcats in the Pac-12 Conference in the 2017–18 season and was a consensus five-star prospect in the Class of 2017, as well as a McDonald's All-American.^[1] Ayton was selected with the first overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft by the Suns.

Early life

Ayton was born in Nassau, Bahamas to Nigerian father Alvin and mother Andrea, a Bahamian of Jamaican descent. He has four siblings.^[2] Ayton was first scouted by an Annual Bahamian basketball magazine called the Bahamian Basketball Yearbook.^[3] At the age of 12, Ayton was scouted by the All Bahamian Brand who were visiting Bahamas Academy High School, a tiny private school then located on Wulff Road in Nassau. The scouts came when Ayton, a tuba and soccer player, was at band practice, rather than basketball practice, but were impressed by his 6'5" frame. In order to properly train for basketball, Ayton had to work part-time jobs to pay the $100 necessary for training camp. Ayton later moved to San Diego, California to play high school basketball.

High school career

Ayton attended Balboa City School in San Diego, California and started on the varsity basketball team for two years. As a sophomore in 2014–15, Ayton led Balboa to a 17-14 record, averaging 21 points, 16 rebounds and 3.8 blocks per game. He racked up double-doubles in 21 of 22 regular season games. That summer, he averaged 16.5 points, 13.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocks a game for Supreme Court AAU (California) on the Under Armour circuit. As a standout in his class, he elected to transfer from Balboa City School to explore an opportunity at a Prep Academy.

Ayton, now a junior in 2015–16, transferred to Hillcrest Prep Academy in Phoenix, Arizona to play out his last two years. ^[4][5][6] During this high school year, he became teammates with another top-tier Class of 2017 player in 2018's #2 pick Marvin Bagley III. Throughout his junior year, Ayton averaged 29.2 points, 16.7 rebounds, 3.8 blocks per game.

As a senior in 2016–17, Ayton led Hillcrest to a 33-6 record and national rankings across multiple outlets while averaging 26 points, 15 rebounds and 3.5 blocks. While representing the World Select team, Ayton played at the 2016 Nike Hoop Summit, chipping in with eight points to go along with seven rebounds.^[7]

Recruiting

Ayton was considered the top player in the 2017 recruiting class by Scout.com, Rivals.com and ESPN.^[8][9][10] In 2015, he was ranked by Scout as the top prospect in all of high school in their "Ultimate 100" list.^[11] He had narrowed his choices between three schools: Arizona, Kansas and Kentucky. On September 6, 2016, Ayton committed to play for the Arizona Wildcats,^[12][13][14] and he signed his letter of intent.

College career

Ayton made his debut with the University of Arizona on November 10, 2017, recording 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks in a 101–67 win over the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks. His 19 points was 7th most for a Freshman in an Arizona debut. Throughout his college career, he was used as a power forward instead of center; Dušan Ristić was Arizona's starting center instead. On December 9, 2017, Ayton recorded what was, at the time, a season-high 29 points and 18 rebounds in an 88–82 win over the Alabama Crimson Tide. On December 30, 2017, against the in-state rival Arizona State Sun Devils, he recorded 19 rebounds, which would be a season-high at the time. On January 20, 2018, against Stanford, he blocked 6 shots, which tied him for most in Arizona Freshman single game history. He had also recorded 17 20-point games and 23 double-doubles through 34 games.^[15] However, while Ayton had some great successes during his freshman season, there were also controversies mired during his last few months there.

On February 23, 2018, a reported FBI wiretap revealed Arizona's head coach, Sean Miller, allegedly talked with Christian Dawkins (a key figure involved in the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball corruption scandal) to discuss paying Ayton $100,000 to allow him to enter the university, with the monetary situation being dealt with directly to him.^[16] While Miller would not be coaching the next game a day later against Oregon (assistant coach Lorenzo Romar would replace Miller that night), Ayton would still be allowed to play that day as the starting center. In that game, Ayton would record 28 points, 18 rebounds, and 4 blocks in the overtime loss to Oregon. The wiretapped conversation reportedly occurred in 2016, when Ayton was still attending the Hillcrest Prep Academy.^[17][18][19] Later on October 11, 2018, a government official revealed a now-former Adidas consultant named T.J. Gassnola paid a currently unknown amount of money to Ayton's family via Christian Dawkins in order to attend some Adidas sponsored programs.^[20] On March 3, 2018, after their last regular season home game against California, where he'd record 26 points and a career-high 20 rebounds in a 66–54 win over California, head coach Sean Miller honored Ayton, as well as underclassmen Rawle Alkins and Allonzo Trier, with confirmations that they'd all be entering the 2018 NBA Draft at the end of this season.^[21] On March 9, Ayton would record a career-high 32 points with 14 rebounds in a 78–67 overtime win against UCLA. He'd tie that career-high for points the next day alongside grabbing 18 rebounds in the Pac-12 Championship game against USC, where the Wildcats won 75–61. Ayton would be named the Pac-12 Tournament's Most Outstanding Player during the event.

At the end of the regular season, Ayton was named both the Pac-12's Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, as well as become a member of the All-Pac-12 first team (in terms of both regular voting and voting through the Associated Press) and be named the winner of the Karl Malone Award.^[22] He was also voted a consensus first-team All-American. Furthermore, Ayton was one of three freshman to be a part of the All-American First Team, joining Marvin Bagley III and Trae Young for the most consensus freshmen First Team members in a season. Following Arizona's upset loss to the University at Buffalo in the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, Ayton announced his intention to forgo his final three seasons of collegiate eligibility and declare for the 2018 NBA draft, where he was expected to be a top-tier lottery selection, if not the potential #1 draft pick.^[23] On April 26, 2018, it was announced that Ayton had signed with agent Nima Namakian of BDA Sports.

Professional career

Phoenix Suns (2018–present)

On June 21, 2018, the Phoenix Suns selected Ayton with the first overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft. He was the franchise's first No. 1 pick in their 50-year history. He also became the first #1 selection in NBA history to be taken in the same state he played in both high school and college before entering the NBA.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}} Ayton joined the 2018 NBA Summer League Suns squad on July 1, 2018, signing his rookie-scale contract five days later.^[24][25] In his Summer League debut on July 6, Ayton recorded 10 points and 8 rebounds in a 92–85 win over the Dallas Mavericks. At the end of the event, Ayton averaged a double-double of 14.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in four games played and named a member of the All-Summer League Second Team. He also averaged 18.2 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1.4 assists, and 0.8 steals per game in five games during the 2018 preseason with the Suns.^[26] Near the end of the preseason, he led all NBA players in points, rebounds, blocks, free-throws, and field goal attempts.^[27]

Ayton made his NBA debut in the season opener on October 17, 2018 and earned a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, as well as 6 assists, a steal, and a block with 36 minutes played as a starter in a 121–100 win over the Dallas Mavericks.^[28] Five days later, Ayton recorded a double-double of 20 points and 14 rebounds (alongside 5 assists) in a 123–103 loss to the Golden State Warriors. On October 27, he recorded 24 points on near-perfect shooting (12/13 shots made) alongside 5 assists in a loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. He became the second rookie in 40 seasons (first being Adam Keefe) to score at least 12 shots with a 90% or higher field goal percentage.^[29] Six days later, Ayton recorded a double-double of 17 points and a season-high 18 rebounds in a 107–98 loss to the Toronto Raptors. Ayton later recorded a new career-high of 33 points, alongside 14 rebounds, in a 122–118 loss to the Denver Nuggets on December 29.^[30] Through the first half of the season, Ayton started in every game for the Suns when he was healthy, save for one. On January 29, 2019, Ayton was named a member of the World Team for the Rising Stars Challenge in the 2019 NBA All-Star Weekend.^[31] On March 27, Ayton broke Alvan Adams' rookie record for most double-doubles recorded by a rookie in franchise history.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}}

Player profile

Ayton is known for being a physically demanding center at 7'1", with a weight of 260 pounds being reported during his time at the University of Arizona. His wingspan has been projected to be at 7'5",^[32] while his vertical leap is slated to be at 43.5".^[33] He sees his game as something akin to Hakeem Olajuwon's (primarily with his footwork, which allows him to keep up with smaller players) with the competitive mentality of Kevin Garnett.^[34] ESPN analyst Jay Williams compared him to David Robinson and Anthony Davis.^[35]

Career statistics

College

Accomplishments and awards

College

• Karl Malone Award (2018)^[22]
• All Pac-12 tournament team (2018)^[36]
• Pac-12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player (2018)^[36]
• NBC Sports First Team All-American (2018)^[37]
• AP Pac-12 Player of the Year (2018)^[38]
• AP Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year (2018)^[38]
• AP Pac-12 First Team All-American (2018)^[38]
• USA Today First Team All-American (2018)^[39]
• Sporting News First Team All-American (2018)^[40]
• Pac-12 Player of the Year (2018)^[41]
• Pac-12 Freshman Player of the Year (2018)^[41]
• All Pac-12 First team (2018)^[42]
• All Pac-12 Freshman team (2018)^[42]
• All Pac-12 Defensive team (2018)^[42]
• USBWA District IX Player of the Year (2018)^[43]
• USBWA District IX All-District team (2018)
• USBWA First Team All-American (2018)
• NABC First Team All-American (2018)
• NABC District 20 First team (2018)
• AP First Team All-American (2018)

High School

• All-USA Boys Basketball First Team (2017)
• Naismith High School Boys All-America first team (2017)
• Maxpreps High School Boys Basketball All-American third team (2017)

National team career

Ayton represented The Bahamas in the 2016 Centrobasket, the regional basketball championship of FIBA Americas for the Central American and Caribbean subzone where he averaged a tournament-leading 11.1 rebounds per game.

Endorsements

In June 2018, it was announced he would be sponsored by Puma after the German company announced that they would be returning to the basketball market.^[44]

References

External links

• Arizona Wildcats bio
• [https://www.theathletic.com/239358/2018/02/14/deandre-ayton-the-transformation-of-a-monster-in-the-arizona-desert/ Deandre Ayton: The Transformation of a Monster in the Arizona Desert]
• [https://www.slamonline.com/nba/deandre-ayton-slam-cover/ DeAndre Ayton is the NBA’s Next BIG Thing 💪]: Slam Magazine Interview
• Deandre Ayton, 'Son of the Soil'

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