[Amick] Monty Williams on Deandre Ayton: "My goal is to help guys win and get paid. So when a guy doesn’t get what he wants, and (the two sides) don’t agree, I take that like I didn’t do enough."

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As the leader here, and a guy who is so good when it comes to the interpersonal stuff, what’s your perspective on DA (Ayton) and the question of whether there might be a butterfly effect negatively from his situation? And if so, how do you massage that?

Yeah, I don’t believe there will be because you still get to play ball. We all still get paid. For me — and I can’t speak for anybody else — my goal is to help guys win and get paid. So when a guy doesn’t get what he wants, and (the two sides) don’t agree, I take that like I didn’t do enough, you know what I’m saying? Like, that’s my job. And that’s how I look at it. You know what I mean? I heard all the stuff (about his situation), and I’ve been privy to information and conversations. But for me as a leader on the floor, that’s what I take seriously. Now I’m not the reason guys get paid. But when they don’t get what they want, or negotiations go awry. I’m like, ‘Well, how do I help them out?’ Because that’s my job is to help that guy achieve all those goals. That’s how I look at it.

If I’m in your shoes, I probably want to know (with Ayton), like, “OK, we know what happened. But are we still (on the same page)?” Do you have to have that conversation?

I’ve never had that with him. He and I have always been pretty straight. Yeah. You know, he knows how much I care about him. I tell him. I tell all of our guys how much I care about them. I love them. Why should that situation be any different than any other? That’s not my deal. I don’t do that. I do the X’s and O’s.