DeAndre Ayton storms out of the arena after getting benched and leaves Chris Paul hanging in Game 3

Deandre Ayton's tumultuous time with the Phoenix Suns took another sharp turn on May 5, with the former first-overall draft pick seemingly refusing to acknowledge Chris Paul following the Suns' victory over the Denver Nuggets in Game 3.

As you can see in the video above, Paul attempts to 'dap up' Ayton as he makes his way through a crowd behind the bench, but the big man seems to ignore the veteran guard and walks right by him.

During the fourth quarter of Phoenix's win, Ayton found himself getting yanked from the rotation on two separate occasions, as head coach Monty Williams appeared to favor what Jock Landale was providing the team at that moment.

In fairness, Ayton was having a tough night against the Nuggets and ended the game with a negative plus/minus of -4, meaning the Nuggets were four points better off with Ayton on the court than off it during the contest.

Landale, however, was a +10 in the 25 minutes he spent on the hardwood, racking up six points, nine rebounds, and one steal while converting all three of his field goal attempts to help give the Suns a different dimension at the five spot.

Still, Deandre Ayton has been impressive throughout his first seven postseason games this year, amassing a stat line of 13.4 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game on 56.3% shooting from the field.

As such, Williams likely felt that Landale gave the Suns a different dimension in the clutch and chose to sit his starting center to give his team the best chance of clawing their way back into the series.

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Deandre Ayton left the arena straight after the game

Shortly after the final whistle blew, and the Phoenix Suns had registered the first win of their second-round series against the Nuggets, Deandre Ayton made his way to the parking lot - leaving the arena before the team's locker room was opened to the press.

It will now be interesting to see how Monty Williams structures his rotation for the remainder of the Suns series against the Nuggets and whether Deandre Ayton is going to see his role slightly reduced in order to provide additional playing time for Landale, who was impressive throughout the Game 3 contest.

Ayton, 24, is among the best rim-running big men in the NBA and is an integral part of the Suns' rotation. However, his time with Phoenix hasn't been smooth sailing.

Before the start of the 2021-22 NBA season, the Suns declined to extend a max offer sheet to Ayton, thus allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent this past summer.

Yet, at the start of free agency, the Suns had a change of heart and inked Deandre Ayton to a $133 million max contract extension, which runs from 2023 to 2026, and sees him earn an average annual value of $35.5 million per year, with the salary slowly escalating each season.

Phoenix and Denver will face off against each other in Game 4 of their Western Conference semi-finals series on Sunday, May 7, with the game taking place in the Sun's Footprint Center.