PHOENIX — About 45 minutes after the Phoenix Suns lost their third of four games so far this season on Wednesday, Deandre Ayton exited the shower room in dress clothes, asked a PR executive for help straightening out his tie, and faced his locker stall while he finished tidying up.
Then, a few minutes later, the former Arizona Wildcats star turned around to a circle of reporters who hadn’t budged through the routine.
“Oh,” Ayton said, cracking a slight smile. “Y’all waiting on me?”
Yes, everybody was. Good or bad, day or night, on the floor or in the locker room, Ayton is in demand as the No. 1 draft pick on a team trying to rebuild itself to NBA relevance.
It isn’t easy.
Through four games, Ayton has delivered to expectations, even as one who was drafted first and will make over $8 million this year as a rookie. After collecting 22 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks in the Suns’ 131-113 loss to the Lakers on Wednesday, Ayton is averaging 16.3 points and 10.8 rebounds while shooting 62.8 percent from the field.
Basketball Reference tweeted Thursday that he’s the first rookie since 1983 to average at least 15 points, 10 rebounds and shoot 60 percent.
So he’s good there. Except within that average were two difficult road games, including the Suns’ 119-91 loss at Denver, in which Nuggets center Nikola Jokic racked up a triple-double (35 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists) while scoring on Ayton inside, drawing fouls from him and putting up 3s over him.
Schooling him, basically.
Ayton took the lesson seriously, saying he watched a lot of video replay afterward.
“The Nuggets game, I really learned a lot,” Ayton said. “I was guarding the post wrongly and Jokic is a great player and took advantage of that. It was a great welcome to me, personally.”
Deandre Ayton, right, lauded the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors’ style and called playing against them “a great learning experience.”
Two days later, Ayton was thrown into Oracle Arena to face the NBA champion Warriors. Ayton managed 20 points and 14 rebounds at Golden State, yet still left the arena with his head spinning somewhat.
Like just about everyone else, that is.
“They’re a team that’s very versatile from 1-5,” Ayton said. “Just their pace — you think you’ve got a good dunk but they’re already down the court shooting a 3. So just seeing that in person is a great learning experience and I want to take it to our team.”
By Wednesday, Ayton and the Suns returned home to Talking Stick Resort Arena. Ayton was barely finished soaking up those two road lessons before none other than LeBron James and the Lakers showed up.
“Every night” is a tough test for Ayton, Suns coach Igor Kokoskov said.
“There’s not one game where they’re going to say, ‘OK, I gotta check to see (if there’s any) barbecue chicken,” he said, referring to basketball slang about a big man who gets dominated in the post. “There’s no barbecue chicken.”
The Lakers were 0-3 entering the game, but they still managed to roast the Suns before a sellout crowd of 18,055 that included UA commits Nico Mannion and Terry Armstrong.
Phoenix trailed by 20 entering the third quarter, and by 27 in the fourth quarter before Ayton and the Suns rallied. Ayton’s 10 points, four rebounds and one block in the final quarter kept it from getting worse.
The Suns sunk to 1-3 but Ayton’s night drew some individual praise. James said the rookie’s performance showed the Suns “chose right” with their No. 1 pick, while Lakers coach Luke Walton praised his fellow former UA player.
“He’s a Wildcat — he’s awesome,” Walton said with a smile. “He’s big, he’s strong. He had some amazing blocks and amazing plays. Like all young players, he made some mistakes but I think he’s going to be a hell of a player.”
When told of their remarks, Ayton chuckled.
“I appreciate the love,” he said. “Hearing that from LeBron is amazing.”
But he also knows there is no love lost between him and many of his other opponents on the court, who are aiming to “welcome” the No. 1 pick to the NBA during his first round through the league.
After being in the NBA for 17 seasons, Suns center Tyson Chandler can tell you that’s the way it works.
“For sure,” Chandler said. “If you’re champions, you’re going to have a target on your back. You’re the No. 1 pick, you’re going to have a target on your back. You win any accolade, you gonna have a target on your back.
“That’s a part of this league and you gotta take it in stride. But it’s a compliment. ... It’s a good thing for him.”
It’s good, even if sometimes it gets a little rough under the basket.
“Dudes try to attack me,” Ayton said. “They want to see what I’m about. I guess there’s this rookie thing where they want to see what you’re really made of. But I’m a competitor. I like to compete. It’s a part of my nature, so we just got to do it as a team.”
Suns star Devin Booker can relate, but only somewhat, since even he didn’t have it nearly as bad as a rookie from Kentucky three years ago.
Booker was the No. 13 pick in the 2015 draft, and didn’t receive consistent minutes until December of his rookie season.
Ayton, however, was the No. 1 pick for a team that finished with the worst record in the NBA last season.
He’s needed to do everything possible, as quick as possible.
“He has a lot more pressure than I did,” Booker said. “I feel like he has more of a spotlight on him being that No. 1 pick. And guys say he’s going to be the next Shaq out of college. That’s a lot to put on a 19- or 20-year old.
“But he’s handled it well. He wants to be great. I think he’s destined to be really good.”
