After almost a week of rumors that the Suns were going to trade away Deandre Ayton for a package centered around Jusuf Nurkić, it finally ended up happening today.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The Phoenix Suns sent Ayton and rookie Toumani Camara to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Nurkić, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson. This was part of a bigger trade in which Damian Lillard went to the Bucks.
Lillard goes Milwaukee as part of a 3-team deal with Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, a 2029 unprotected MIL 1st, and unprotected MIL swap rights in 2028 and 2030 to Blazers. Phoenix lands Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson. https://t.co/Ge0H91AiIA
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 27, 2023
The tricky part of these deals and probably one of the reasons it took so long is how the math factors in, s0 we broke it down for the Suns’ side.
Because Phoenix is operating over the second-apron of the luxury tax, the Suns could only take in 110% of the salary going out in a trade.
Ayton’s yearly salary for the upcoming season was the sixth-highest among centers in the league. He will make $32.459 million this season.
Camara is in the first year of his rookie deal and is only due to make $1.12 million this year.
This means the Suns could bring in a total salary of $36.937 million factoring in the 110%.
The four incoming salaries combine to be $34.859 million, allowing the Suns to pull off this blockbuster deal.
Nurkić is under contract until the 2025-26 season. He will make $16.875 million this 2023-24 season. The Blazers signed him to 4-year, $70 million deal before the 2022-23 season, so this upcoming season will be his second on the deal.
Allen is in the last year of a two-year, $18.7 million deal. His cap hit for this year is $8.925 million.
Little signed a four-year, $28 million contract extension with the Blazers in October of last year, which kicks in this season. He is set to make $6.25 million in the 2023-24 season with the figure increasing by $500,000 every year.
Johnson had his team option exercised by the Blazers for this season. He is in the third year of his four-year, $12.517 rookie deal and set to make $2.809 million this year.
This trade gives the Suns 17 players under contract, so the team will have to fight it out for the 15-allowed roster spots in training camp.
Here’s the math on the Damian Lillard blockbuster to Milwaukee:
This trade would not have worked next season if Milwaukee was a second apron team. pic.twitter.com/Pw5W2aZYpg
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) September 27, 2023
Here’s how the contracts look in relation with the rest of the team, according to Spotrac.
The new Suns’ salary cap numbers (via Spotrac)
Stay tuned for more content surrounding the trade.
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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
