Caribbean Born, Deandre Ayton, Mixing It Up With Best Teams
Caribbean-born NBA Star, Deandre Ayton 22 of the Phoenix Suns, shoots the ball during the game against the Houston Rockets on April 5, 2021, at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. After years of basement-dwelling in a crowded Western Conference, it seems the NBA Phoenix Suns finally have the pieces they need for a playoff run, and the Bahamas, Caribbean-born center DeAndre Ayton has played a massive role in their success.
First overall pick out of Arizona in the 2018 Draft, Ayton came into the league with the huge expectation on his shoulders to become Phoenix’s second star besides sharpshooting two-guard Devin Booker. However, it wasn’t until this offseason, with the addition of multiple-time All-Star Chris Paul, that the Suns took the step to the next level.
Paul has a reputation for making his teammates better, and this season has been no exception. Paul and Ayton have played every game for the Suns this year, building chemistry that has seen Ayton play some of the best basketball of his career. Sitting +900 to win the Western Conference in the NBA betting on bet365, the Suns don’t have the playoff pedigree of the other teams around them, where the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers, Utah Jazz, and Denver Nuggets have all made deep playoff runs in recent years.
With playoff basketball secure, the next question is how resilient this Suns team is. As a potential high seed, they could face any of the teams scrapping for the play-in tournament in the Western Conference's basement, possibly Luka Doncic’s Dallas Mavericks or the Golden State Warriors under Steph Curry, who always turns up in the playoffs. This is where Ayton, too, will need to step up his game in his first career playoff appearances and where the veteran presence of Chris Paul could be invaluable.
The Suns, meanwhile, finished that season-ending NBA bubble with an 8-0 undefeated record, where Booker shot over 50% from the field while averaging 30 points a game. Now it seems that the red-hot Suns under Ayton and Booker, with Paul's addition, are a combination destined to succeed.
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