Los Angeles Lakers center Deandre Ayton has been a subject of scrutiny lately as it comes to his offensive production. To begin this year, his touch in and around the rim was phenomenal, along with his mid-range jumpers falling at a high clip.
Prior to signing with Los Angeles, the baggage that came with Ayton was well-documented and head coach JJ Redick has had to keep his starting big man engaged offensively throughout the year. If Ayton isn’t getting enough touches, his engagement level has shown to drop.
As a result, the big man has seen his minutes decrease with him often not closing games. To his credit, he is not complaining about any of it and hasn’t been a distraction. However, L.A. needs him to become an escape valve offensively, where his teammates can feed him in positions to score with ease.
On Friday night against the L.A. Clippers, Ayton captured exactly that and even had one of his best dunks of the year. He jammed Brook Lopez, courtesy of a pass from LeBron James in transition.
After the game, Ayton discussed that play and how special it was for him.
“It’s all about reads,” Ayton said following their 125-122 win. “I always watch LeBron’s eyes and once he’s running, you want to run with him. Amazing things are going to happen when you run with LeBron. And I was just running the lane, trying to give him the mack truck lane, usually that’s his lane and he threw it up. It was good, that was one of the highlights of my career. I needed that one.”
With playoff implications on the line, every single game the Lakers need to play their best basketball. Should the Lakers make it to the postseason, they will need Ayton to remain on the floor and not get played off.
Thankfully, there are 27 games remaining and L.A. occupies a bit of a runway to find their form. Particularly with the center rotation, they need to find a way to remain productive in a playoff setting.
Wishful thinking is that Ayton can return to early-season form where he is a reliable fourth scoring option. If he can, the Lakers can get back on track and stack up wins in a hurry.
Deandre Ayton: Lakers need to be better in third quarters
Third quarters have been an issue for the Lakers for several years now, dating back to before head coach JJ Redick’s tenure. Redick is aware of this lingering problem and has been trying to fix it.
Deandre Ayton sees it from a player’s perspective and acknowledges they need to come together to help find a solution to their third quarter woes.
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