Last offseason, the Los Angeles Lakers hoped to find a long-term solution at center to pair with Luka Doncic after trading Anthony Davis. They ultimately landed on Deandre Ayton on a prove-it deal after he was bought out by the Portland Trail Blazers.
Granted, Ayton is a flawed player, but he was the best option for Los Angeles at the time. Fast forward to this summer, and the Lakers decided to go in a different direction by trading Ayton to the Washington Wizards and pulling off a sign-and-trade for Walker Kessler.
Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal was discussing the Lakers’ current roster, which features new faces and couldn’t help but take a shot at Ayton for his poor play in purple and gold, via Owen Crisafulli of Heavy.com:
“It’s only one great center and a lot of good centers,” O’Neal said. “I don’t know what the Lakers offense is gonna look like yet, but you got guys … they can do a lot of stuff around the rim, unlike ‘Dominayton,’ who didn’t do anything.”
In Ayton’s defense, he started behind the eight-ball with LeBron James missing the first 14 games due to sciatica and Luka Doncic suffering injuries in late October with a left finger sprain and a lower leg contusion. So, he had to focus on building pick-and-roll chemistry with Austin Reaves and that ultimately turned out pretty well.
However, he presumably signed with the Lakers to play alongside Doncic and James. Things unfortunately never clicked and it became pretty apparent heading into the latter stages of the regular season that L.A. needed more stability at center given Ayton’s up and down play.
Head coach JJ Redick tried to get the most out of Ayton by constantly encouraging him and getting him early touches offensively, but his motor continued to be a prevalent downside which is why L.A. decided to go in a different direction with Kessler.
Deandre Ayton appreciates JJ Redick & Lakers coaching staff having his back
At the start of last season, Ayton came out the gates strong offensively with seemingly everything working. However, his production began to trickle off with his mid-range jumpers, post hooks and floaters not dropping at a high enough rate.
Despite plenty of criticism regarding his up-and-down play throughout the year, Redick tried to stick it out with Ayton. Players appreciate a coach who believes in them, so the big man showed love to Redick and his coaching staff for having his back despite plenty of outside criticism.
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