Phoenix Suns' Deandre Ayton signing 4-year, $133M maximum contract offer sheet with Indiana Pacers, agents say

Phoenix Suns restricted free agent center Deandre Ayton is signing a four-year, $133 million maximum contract offer sheet with the Indiana Pacers, his agents, Bill Duffy and Nima Namakian, told ESPN on Thursday.

The Suns have two days to match the largest offer sheet in NBA history and keep Ayton — or let him go to the Pacers for nothing in return.

Ayton's offer sheet surpasses the four-year, $107 million deal signed by Otto Porter Jr. with the Brooklyn Nets in 2017 — a deal the Washington Wizards ultimately matched.

Sign-and-trade deals are no longer allowed once Ayton signs the offer sheet with Indiana. If the Suns do match the offer sheet, they can't trade Ayton anywhere until at least Jan. 15 — and can't trade him to Indiana for a year.

Namakian of Innovate Sports and Duffy of BDA Sports and WME had insisted to the Suns that they could find a maximum contract offer for Ayton in the marketplace, and they are now delivering it with the offer sheet. The Suns had never made Ayton an offer, suggesting they didn't value him as a max player. If they don't match the sheet, the Suns will lose the 2018 No. 1 pick without compensation.

The biggest offer sheet signed by a team that wasn't matched was when Harrison Barnes was signed by the Dallas Mavericks for four years and $94.4 million in 2016, the same summer Barnes' former team, the Golden State Warriors, signed Kevin Durant as a free agent.

Ayton, who turns 24 next week, was drafted with the first overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft out of Arizona, part of a star-studded draft class that included Luka Doncic (third), Jaren Jackson Jr. (fourth), Trae Young (fifth) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (11th).

After making the All-Rookie first team in 2019, Ayton has developed into a