NBA Notebook: Suns fail to extend Deandre Ayton

Real, regular season basketball was played this week. But there was also a huge amount of news from around the association. We'll get you all caught in the latest edition of our NBA Notebook.

RECORD NUMBER OF ROOKIE EXTENSIONS SIGNED

Monday at 6 p.m. ET was the deadline for players drafted in the 2018 draft to sign rookie scale contract extensions, and a flurry of deals were reached.

Perhaps the most significant was Jaren Jackson Jr. signing a four-year $105 million deal with the Memphis Grizzlies. Jackson has the potential to be a star player but has struggled with injuries in his short career. It’s significant risk mitigation for Jackson, and sets up the Grizzlies nicely should Jackson reach his potential.

Also signing extensions were Mikal Bridges, Kevin Huerter, Landry Shamet, and Grayson Allen. A total of 11 first round picks from the 2018 draft signed extensions, which was a record.

DEANDRE AYTON AND SUNS FAIL TO REACH DEAL

The biggest extension news, however, was one of the deals that didn’t get signed. Despite an outstanding playoffs where he posted one of the most efficient stat lines in history and locked up MVP Nikola Jokic on route to the NBA Finals, former No.1 pick Deandre Ayton did not reach an extension agreement with the Phoenix Suns.

One can quibble if Ayton is worthy of a max extension in a vacuum, but NBA teams don’t play in a vacuum. Chemistry is real, and the Suns’ window is right now. The Suns are playing with fire here, and they wouldn’t be the first team to get burned by taking their star player to restricted free agency.

BEN SIMMONS DRAMA JUST KEEPS GOING

The momentary reprieve for the 76ers and their fans provided by Ben Simmons reporting to the team is now long dead. Simmons showed up, and proceeded to loaf through drills, refuse to enter certain plays, and eventually got himself thrown out of practice by Doc Rivers. Joel Embiid, tired of being polite, laid into Simmons in the post-practice media scrum, saying that it wasn’t his job to "babysit" his fellow All-Star.

Daryl Morey then went on the radio Thursday and made it clear in no uncertain terms that Simmons will not be traded for anything short of a star player, saying he would endure four years of this current drama if that’s what it takes.

Simmons reportedly met with the organization as well as his teammates this morning saying that he does want to return, but that he isn’t "mentally ready." What happens next is anyone's guess.

CELTICS TAKEN OFF AIR AFTER KANTER CRITICIZES CHINA

Enes Kanter, backup center for the Boston Celtics, has long been outspoken on international political issues after he himself was made a fugitive from his native Turkey for criticizing president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Now Kanter has set his sights on China, criticizing the nation for its treatment of Tibet, as well as calling Chinese President Xi Jinping a "brutal dictator." In response, Chinese media has removed Celtics games from their broadcasts. It harkens to just two seasons ago, when then Rockets GM Daryl Morey earned similar ire from the Chinese government for tweeting "Free Hong Kong." 

The NBA does big business in China and the NBA also makes it part of their brand that their players are "more than athletes" who speak their mind on issues they find important. Whatever one thinks about the validity of any individual athlete's views, it’s an inescapable tension that is proving costly to the NBA’s global ambitions.

NBA 75 GREATEST PLAYERS UNVEILED

In celebration of the NBA’s 75th anniversary, the league has released a list featuring the 75 greatest players in NBA history. Or at least that was the plan.  Due to an amusing and unlikely tie, the list they ended up releasing is actually 76 players long.

All in all, it’s a pretty good list, capturing the different eras from the NBA’s history. But there is one pretty damning snub.

Dwight Howard, an eight time All-NBA selection and All-Star, who was arguably the best big man in the league for a five-year period, didn’t make the cut. Given that some players with significantly lesser resumes made it, it makes the whole list seem more like a popularity contest than a dispassionate judgment based on merit.