training camp, what was said, quotes, interviews, Phoenix Suns, Jae Crowder trade, Deandre Ayton contract

It’s not so sunny in Phoenix anymore.

Heading into the playoffs last season, the Suns were clutch kings, winning 33 of 42 games when it was a five-point game heading into the final minutes.

This boded well for their championship qualities. You know what else was a good sign? The fact that they posted an 11-4 record without Chris Paul in the latter stages of the season.

With a franchise-record 64 wins during the regular season, Phoenix was an unstoppable force that seemed destined for another run at the NBA title.

Instead, the Suns fell in the conference finals, and as bad as that looked, unfortunately for Phoenix, it was just the beginning of what was to come.

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Fast forward to media day and according to ESPN Brian Windhorst, the only smile came when Devin Booker “joked about being on the cover of the NBA 2K video game.”

“I’ve been covering media days for 20 years, I’ve been to different media days for 10 or 12 teams. I’ve never attended a media day that had an absolute lack of enthusiasm,” he said on his “Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective” podcast.

It comes on the heels of news last week that team owner Robert Sarver, suspended for a year and fined $10 million by the NBA for racist and misogynistic remarks and workplace harassment, will sell the team.

But even that is just the beginning of Phoenix’s problems, with Jae Crowder out as he works with the Suns in a trade, while Deandre Ayton’s eventful offseason has been another intriguing subplot.

“I’ve been covering the NBA since ’99, I’ve been to a lot of these media days, and this was the darkest, saddest media day I’ve ever been to,” added Mark J. Spears on ESPN.

“It felt more like a funeral. I talked to Deandre Ayton a little bit on the sidelines and he said there’s a cloud hanging over the franchise.

“I asked him to expand on that a little bit more and he just feels bad for people, like Ayton he went to high school here, played for Arizona, got drafted by the Suns, like Buck he’s been here a long time and he’s close to town. He just feels hurt for the people and those affected by it.

The talk will soon return to basketball, but the pain Sarver caused and the painful conversations that were had will still remain.

“I didn’t think they were going to do springs, but I thought there might be, ‘Okay, Sarver is in the past, let’s focus on the future,’ but that was absolutely not the case,” Windhorst said.

“I could call it a funeral, but it means they’re sad that Robert Sarver is gone. Let me just say it felt like a dentist waiting room. The players who took the podium looked like they were going to have their teeth pulled out.

“It was a 64-win team last year and 95 percent of them are back. They’re still loaded, they’re an absolute championship contender, and they don’t have to worry about Sarver anymore, and it felt like this team was down 3-0 in a playoff series with 30 points left in the fourth quarter of Game 4.

“Today is day one. It doesn’t matter how they feel today, it matters how they feel at the start of the season and I suspect there will be an attempt by everyone to pick up the spirits when they have a team meeting and dinner tonight. But I can’t even express how dark the mood was.”

Suns general manager James Jones said he was in a “state of shock” after hearing the results of Sarver’s investigation.

“You just personally don’t want to see these kinds of discoveries. You don’t want that to be the narrative around your organization … you don’t want that to be your problem,” he added.

“A wave of emotions, disappointment, sympathy. Not anger. I understand that for some reason, unfortunately, this is commonplace.”

Coach Monty Williams expressed similar sentiments, in “shock” and “disbelief” after reading the findings.

Windhorst felt that Booker reacted most frankly to all of this.

“It was tough,” the Suns guard said.

“It’s hard for me because that’s not the Robert Sarver I know. This is not the Robert Sarver who welcomed me to Phoenix with open arms.

“But at the same time, I’m not insensitive to everyone involved in this situation. And I understand that everyone’s personal experience with other people will always be different. But it’s hard to read because it’s not the person I know.

“These guys really didn’t know how to feel about it,” Windhorst added.

It wasn’t just Sarver, though, Crowder headed for the exit door as well, and Ayton admitted he hadn’t spoken to Coach Williams since he was benched in Phoenix’s last playoff game.

“I think the worst media day was maybe Phoenix,” The Athletic’s Anthony Slater said on “Tampering: An NBA Podcast.”

“They just seemed completely disaffected, uncomfortable with the Sarver situation. Deandre Ayton was asked about his contract, didn’t exactly like the way the organization fit it, and Jae Crowder is gone.

“We’re talking about the runaway number one seed last year and the way he transferred. They clearly have the talent to be a top seed, but there’s a chance the house will come crashing down if it’s as testing as it looks.”

Starting with Ayton, there were question marks over his future in Phoenix after he was benched in their stunning Game 7 loss to the Mavericks, managing just 17 minutes.

Ayton is back, however, with the Suns matching his agreement with the Indiana Pacers to re-sign the 24-year-old to a four-year, $133 million contract.

Although he didn’t seem all that impressed with how it all played out.

“I’m here,” Ayton said when asked about the deal, adding “I’m fine” when asked if he’s happy to be in Phoenix.

“Deandre Ayton, who can be taciturn at times, would barely say six words to any question,” Windhorst said.

“There’s no doubt there’s some mark in the way his contract is down. He basically said, “It’s all business, I don’t want to take any steps backwards.” Even when asked about Sarver, he gave very short answers.

Ayton also didn’t want to elaborate too much after revealing he hadn’t spoken to coach Williams since the Game 7 loss to Dallas.

“I haven’t talked to him at all since the game,” Ayton told reporters.

“I can show him better than I can tell him. This is life. No one cares about the awkward nature of it, what matters is how you present yourself and what you bring to the table. What has been said has been said.”

Williams responded by saying he had not spoken to a “bunch” of Suns players, telling reporters that “they needed a break from me [and] the gym”.

“Unless you’ve been in the gym, like every day, I’ve had interactions with everybody, but talking to guys about deep things, there’s a number of guys I haven’t talked to,” he added.

But when asked if Ayton was happy in Phoenix and if there was any ongoing tension between the pair, Williams simply said he “didn’t want to answer” for him or any of his players.

“I think all our guys are happy here,” he added.

“We’ve won a lot of games and had some success, and then when you have a screen moment like Game 7, like I said, things pick up. Honestly, I’m not going to talk about it anymore because there’s just no point in talking about one guy after one game. We lost Game 7.”

And now it appears the Suns will also lose Crowder, who is in training camp with reports suggesting his camp is working with Phoenix to facilitate a trade.

“After many fruitful and thoughtful conversations, we just decided it was best that he not be with us for training camp,” general manager Jones said.

“What does this mean going forward? I don’t know … right now it allows us to focus on the guys that are here.”

That doesn’t sound very promising for Crowder’s future with the franchise.

“I would say it’s kind of unfortunate,” Booker said of the Crowder situation.

“Jay came here a few years ago and we’ve done a lot of good things here. We have shaped and changed that culture, but at the same time I wish him the best moving forward.”

Like Crowder, the immediate future for the Suns franchise is uncertain.

This is a championship contender who is absolutely still capable of making another shot at the title, and there’s no better time than now to do so.

All you can hope is that the mood in training camp isn’t a sign of things to come.