If Deandre Ayton wants to win ROY of the Year, he has to start building his narrative NOW, to compete with Luka Doncic’s already mature and fully-formed narrative. It’s tough for voters to give the award to the guy averaging fewer points on the worse team. Really tough. But it’s possible, and the way forward is for him to develop a compelling personal reason for the award, almost outside of the basketball court.
It would also help if he bumped up his scoring to about 20 per game, because that’s what Doncic is probably going to do.
One thing he can do to help his narrative is to play up his Bahamian-ness. Everyone loves Doncic, why? Because he’s foreign. That’s like half his appeal right there. Ayton is foreign too, but people maybe don’t realize because his name isn’t Diandrov Atonovic. The Bahamas are just as much of a foreign nation as Slovenia, and he needs to make people remember that. Maybe some planted articles on ESPN or something talking about his childhood in Nassau?
Also the Suns need to start winning games. They’ve been doing it a bit recently, but being on the worst team in the league doesn’t help anyone’s chances for winning any award, unless it’s that BS “community service” one.