Watch: Deandre Ayton’s heated exchange involving Monty Williams on Suns’ bench

Suns center Deandre Ayton was seen in a heated exchange involving head coach Monty Williams on the team’s bench during Phoenix’s 113-110 loss to the Washington Wizards at Footprint Center on Tuesday night.

What do you think is going on here? 👀@PHXFansApp @XinNBA @AndrewLeezus pic.twitter.com/vJXNDUiHaX

— Goober222 (@Goober2221) December 21, 2022

“No, it was the whole team,” Williams said of the incident postgame. “In those moments — it wasn’t just Deandre — it was the whole group out there not executing properly.

“It was a bitter frustration but that happens. That was not an isolated one-person or one-player thing.”

The altercation between Ayton and Williams appears to be during a timeout with 44 seconds remaining with the Suns trailing, 107-100.

Prior to that, Mikal Bridges was seen bickering at Ayton for what seemed to be a blown screen on the Suns’ previous possession.

here is Ayton and Mikal barking at each other during free throws, and Bradley Beal doing his best Joakim Noahhttps://t.co/bg7OHU7zNw https://t.co/a9w32fCzPw pic.twitter.com/wxRUfeI8wZ

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) December 21, 2022

“We a family, so he knows how to talk to his boys, and his boys know how to communicate,” Ayton told reporters postgame. “Obviously the whole world sees it, but it’s really all love and just getting us back to regroup.

“It gets really emotional and all that, but as I said, this is a family. We know each other, we know each other’s personalities. Everybody got to see us really, like, intensified in the moment where, OK, dang, we lost our upper hand. But coach clarified it up in the huddle.”

Here is what appears to be the aforementioned blown screen on the offensive end:

Here is the play. You can see Torrey Craig on the bottom with his hands up as it unfolds pic.twitter.com/hKvivN69M6

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) December 21, 2022

TNT NBA analyst Charles Barkley gave his thoughts on his former team and went so much to say that the Suns are “not even close to being a championship contender anymore.”

"Right now, it's not working. They're going to win a lot of games cause they got talent, but they're not even close to being a championship contender anymore."

Chuck reacts to the Suns' heated bench exchange in loss to the Wizards pic.twitter.com/N6ge10nYmX

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) December 21, 2022

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