Arizona assistant alleges Sean Miller was involved in paying DeAndre Ayton

Today, a wiretapped phone call featuring Christian Dawkins and former Arizona Wildcats assistant Book Richardson was played in federal court as part of the college hoops corruption trial. The report came from Yahoo Sports.

And on that call?

Christian Dawkins alleges that Miller was paying, or going to pay, DeAndre Ayton $10,000 a month for his time at Arizona.

On the call, Richardson tells Dawkins that Arizona head coach Sean Miller was paying, or had promised to pay, $10,000 a month for Deandre Ayton, who would go on to become the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NBA draft.

“You know what he bought per month,” Richardson said on the call concerning what Richardson believed was Miller’s agreement with Ayton.

“What he do?” Dawkins asked.

“I told you, 10,” Richardson said.

Later, Dawkins said, “Hey, he’s putting up some real money for them [racial slur].”

In the report, it also claims that Miller was paying former Wildcat Rawle Alkins and former Arizona commit Jahvon Quinerly’ mother had requested $20-$25,000 for Quinerly’s commitment to the Wildcats.

Sean Miller has denied any wrongdoing in the corruption case.

If you recall, Ayton was one of Kentucky’s top recruiting targets in the Class of 2017. At various points, it even appeared Kentucky was in the lead with Kansas being the biggest competitor.

But as his recruitment wound down, the Jayhawks had seemingly taken the lead before Ayton, to the surprise of many, picked Arizona.

Since then, Ayton has been brought up on multiple occasions as a recruit that Arizona paid to get, though the latest is the most damning since it’s actually from a former Arizona coach.