Reports: Blazers C Deandre Ayton to be free agent after buyout

The Portland Trail Blazers will buy out the final year of center Deandre Ayton’s contract and make him a free agent, multiple media outlets reported on Sunday night.
Ayton, 26, is owed $35 million for the coming season to complete a four-year, $132 million contract that he had signed while with the Phoenix Suns.
Instead, he will hit free agency on Monday and be in much higher demand than in Portland, which picked centers Donovan Clingan (No. 7 in 2024) and Yang Hansen (No. 16 in 2025) in the first round of the two most recent drafts and also has veteran Robert Williams III.
Ayton averaged 14.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.0 blocks in 40 games (all starts) last season, his second with Portland that was shortened by a season-ending left calf injury.
He is averaging for his career 16.4 points, 10.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.0 blocks in 398 regular-season games (391 starts) for the Phoenix Suns (2018-23) and Blazers.
He was third in NBA Rookie of the Year voting in the 2018-19 season, when he made the All-Rookie first team. The Suns selected Ayton with the first overall pick of the 2018 NBA Draft out of the University of Arizona.
Portland acquired him as part of a three-team trade with Milwaukee and Phoenix that sent All-Star guard Damian Lillard from the Trail Blazers to the Bucks on Sept. 27, 2023.
ESPN first reported news of the buyout on Sunday night.