Indiana Pacers close to acquiring Deandre Ayton / News - Basketnews.com

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Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton is close to joining the Indiana Pacers, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.

Free throws this season

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"We believe that the Indiana Pacers are very close to giving Deandre Ayton an offer sheet or executing a sign-and-trade," Windhorst said on ESPN's Get Up on Monday.

"The Pacers have shown a lot of interest in Ayton this off-season. They now have salary cap space to offer him a contract. They had space before, but they had to wait until they completed the Malcolm Brogdon trade, which they just did over the weekend, and so effective now they have the cap space to sign Deandre Ayton outright to an offer sheet."

The first pick in the 2018 draft out of Arizona, Ayton averaged 17.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 1.4 assists over 58 games last season.

He was a key contributor during the Suns' pursuit of the league championship in 2020-21, which fell short in a 4-2 series loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Finals.

Then, in the postseason, Ayton registered 15.8 points in 22 games (all starts) on 65.8 percent shooting to go with 11.8 rebounds.

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