When the Los Angeles Lakers brought in Deandre Ayton this past summer, they were hoping to add a two-way presence who could give them a much-needed boost at the center position.
He did exactly that in Sunday night’s win over the Sacramento Kings as Ayton finished with 22 points, 15 rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block in what was his best game with the team.
Talent has never been an issue for Ayton, but a lot of times his mentality or lack of a killer instinct has hindered the former No. 1 overall pick.
With that being the case, Ayton revealed that his teammates having been saying stuff to make him angry before games to play with that aggression, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
“They all have their own little things to get in my head. AR is my guy, Luka is my guy, but my wings and my forwards, they be trying to get me ticked off before these games just to get me rolling. And I’m starting to see it’s a trend because they don’t get a break until we get on the court and then it’s all seriousness. I’m like oh, so this is a thing y’all want to do. Like y’all want to get me on edge, y’all want me fired up. I like it, man. Your teammates start to get on you and I haven’t had that in a while where dudes really care.”
Whatever his teammates have been saying have worked for Ayton the last two games as he first outplayed Rudy Gobert and then Domantas Sabonis, two players on max contracts. And Ayton is not taking it the wrong way as he knows his teammates are poking fun at him because they care:
“I’m honored. They don’t have to do that. Like I said walking in here, they gave me open arms and there’s some head honchos like Bron, AR and Luka, but just not leaving me out. They’re always messing with me and just talking to me and talking basketball. It doesn’t always have to be basketball, it’s just trolling at the end of the day. So yeah, they love my reactions and I be caught off guard on some of them. But I love it man, trust me. It’s just making me play hard when it counts.”
Three games into his Lakers career, Ayton is averaging 15.7 points and 9.7 rebounds, which is the exact type of production they envisioned for him. So whatever is teammates are saying is clearly working, and the big man is keeping the right mentality by using it as fuel.
Deandre Ayton letting game come to him
The Lakers’ offense is ran through their guards with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves creating almost everything. Deandre Ayton understands that and has been focused on letting the game come to him, especially in the pick-and-roll.
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