I got brothers in the UK. I got family in Jamaica and the Bahamas. During that game, we talk our smack. Whoever we just beat up on, we talk about it and laugh about it. I ain't going to bed until 4 or 5 a. That's how serious it gets. "VIDEO GAMES HAVE BEEN A REFUGE FOR AYTON ever since he was a child growing up in the Bahamas. He often watched his older brother, Andrew, play and successfully beat the hardest levels on most games he owned. "Any game that was popping, they had it, " Ayton says.
Ayton was impressive, averaging 16. 3 points and 10. 3 rebounds. He left fans looking forward to his sophomore season. In the 2019-2020 season opener, Ayton shined with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks in a 124-95 Suns win over the Sacramento Kings. The next day, the feelings of joy and anticipation for the season dissipated when Ayton learned he had violated the league's anti-drug policy after testing positive for a diuretic.
His punishment was a 25-game suspension. "I tell you, the worst time to play [NBA 2K] was during the suspension, " Ayton says. "[Those] kids were attacking me. Out of all the games I could play, I chose to play the basketball game that follows everything about the NBA and I went in the devil's pit. I don't even want to say the lion's den. It was the devil's pit, and I got bashed every day playing the game. "Twenty-five. Deandre should be working out, but he's over here. No wonder why he got suspended. "I'm hearing all of that, " Ayton says. "My back's against the wall, but I'm still playing this game.
(Dawkins was convicted of conspiracy and bribery charges. Miller and Ayton have denied the claims. )Ayton also leaned on gaming as an NBA rookie. The Suns struggled to find a rhythm in the 2018-2019 season, winning only 19 games and finishing last in the Western Conference. "I wasn't used to losing, " Ayton says. "I'm like, 'Oh, so this is the NBA. You lose every game.
The 6-foot-11-inch, 250-pound center out of Arizona had been drafted No. 1 overall by the Suns. Ayton kept his word to Russell. "That's the first time I met that dude, " Ayton says. Ayton's gaming community also helped him endure the most difficult parts of his basketball career. In his freshman year of college in 2017-18, his name was referenced in the FBI's federal corruption investigation into college basketball, which included the University of Arizona. In a wiretap recording of a telephone call between former runner and aspiring business manager Christian Dawkins and business partner Munish Sood played during a federal criminal trial in 2019, Dawkins alleged that then-Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller "fronted" a deal to ensure the Wildcats signed Ayton.
I don't give a damn. Y'all going to see me in the game. Being in the video game and 25-game suspension, it's like being in the middle of a hundred people that hate you, yelling at you, saying anything to you. Whoever you think you are, go in the gaming world. [Those] people will tell you about your ass. "Ayton kept himself in playing condition, but his time spent playing video games increased from four to five hours each day to around the clock. Ayton returned from his suspension, but a few months later, the NBA season was suspended indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than most players, Ayton could handle the uncertainty.
NBA playoffs 2022 - Why Phoenix Suns star Deandre Ayton can't live without video gamesMay 12, 2022Maya A. Jones It's a Monday afternoon at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, and Suns center Deandre Ayton is locked in. He's not focused on his team's upcoming game against the Los Angeles Lakers the next day, thinking ahead to a playoff run, or worrying about his contract negotiations with the Suns. Right now, at this very moment, the most pressing thing on his mind is which video game he'll play first. Ayton, 23, is a serious gamer.
When Ayton turned 11, his stepfather, Alvin, bought him a new PlayStation, but he would soon leave behind the console for a new pursuit: basketball. Ayton enrolled in the Jeff Rodgers Basketball Camp on a Monday. By Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Alvin, scouts were at the family home to talk about their son. "The people around there saw his height, " Alvin says. "He was the same height as guys older than him. People were saying he looked like he was about 16, but he was 11. "By the end of the summer, Ayton began preparing to move to the United States to pursue hoops. They eventually chose the Balboa School in Escondido, California. Ayton was grateful for the opportunity but didn't fully understand how much work the program would be. He would receive a free education at the private school and be given the tools to grow his skills as a player but the program required a strict and rigorous schedule.
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' Them L's came so quick and I was over here stressing like, 'Bro, we lost man. ' Them dudes telling me, 'Boy, you got 81 more to go. ' We lost again. 'You got 80 more to go, bro. '"Ayton turned to NBA 2K. If his team couldn't win IRL, he could at least redeem himself in the game. Thankfully, there was hope for the next season.
While some continued to take Ayton's dreams lightly, there were two gamers, Recarno Nixon and Joshua Russell, from his home country who listened to Ayton and encouraged his dreams. "It was 4 a. one morning, I can remember it like it was yesterday, " Ayton says. "I was like, 'Yo, bro, you've always been there for me. When they go through that draft, I'm going to be the No. 1 pick. I'm going to make sure you're there with me. "On June 21, 2018, after years of speaking his future plans into existence, the time had come.
"At 15, Ayton became a force on the hardwood and soon his mother relocated to America to be closer to her son. And in more good news, Ayton's host family gifted him with a new PlayStation 4. Ayton told anyone who would listen what his gamer tag was and found friends and family he'd lost touch with in the three years he'd been gone. His community had returned. "I cared for that [PS4] every day, cleaning the vent every day, " Ayton says. DURING HIGH SCHOOL, Ayton told anyone in online chatrooms who would listen that he was going to be a big basketball star. He was going to make it. "They thought I was talking the most s*** ever, " Ayton says. Some of the best friends Ayton kept in touch with online were mutual friends from the Bahamas. Others were total strangers who laughed while listening to a delusional teenager yell about being the top-ranked 10th grader in the country and his far-fetched dreams of becoming a top draft pick in the NBA.
And I had that at a young age where I didn't even want to be here. I didn't want to be here. ""I'm like, ain't no console. I ain't got nothing around this mug? Ain't no video game, nothing? No, a basketball. That's it. Basketball and books. It was tough, " he says. "I really only got serious with basketball because I ain't had nobody. I ain't had nothing and playing basketball was like really my own outlet to really have fun.
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