Seems like it makes ZERO sense for the Suns to cut him. The Suns would still have to pay the guaranteed salary of the released or waived player’s contract and is still counted against the team’s salary cap. Cutting him now saves you 15M but doesn't get you under the Apron. Guaranteeing it though puts you 15M more over. Which says to me Ayton is definitely gone.
Based on the below, he signed a 3-year contract so they can't renegotiation with him. Plus, even if they wanted a renegotiation they are over the cap and even then, you can only INCREASE his salary. See below:
- A contract for four or more seasons can be renegotiated after the third anniversary of its signing, extension, or previous renegotiation (if the previous negotiation increased any season's salary by more than 4.5%). Contracts for fewer than four seasons cannot be renegotiated. A contract cannot be renegotiated between March 1 and June 30 of any year.
- Only teams under the cap can renegotiate a contract, and the salary in the then-current season can be increased only to the extent that the team has room under the cap (and cannot increase the player's salary beyond the maximum salary). A renegotiation can only be used to provide a salary increase -- players can't take a "pay cut" in order to create more cap room for the team.