The Los Angeles Lakers were celebrated at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night with new additions Deandre Ayton, Jake LaRavia and Adout Thiero on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
This came just 24 hours after the legendary Kobe Bryant was also celebrated at the L.A. Dodgers game with a bobblehead. His family was in attendance with his daughter Bianka throwing out the first pitch to kick off those festivities.
Ayton, LaRavia and Thiero are new to Los Angeles so are still getting familiar with how intertwined the Lakers and Dodgers organizations are in the city. They got a taste of it on Saturday though when they visited Dodger Stadium for the first time and eventually took the mound for the first pitch:
Rate the first pitches of Deandre Ayton, Jake LaRavia and Adou Thiero during their visit to Dodger Stadium:
🎥: @DodgerBlue1958 pic.twitter.com/JgE3Ib7LM7
— Lakers Nation (@LakersNation) August 10, 2025
The Dodgers have a Lakers Night every year to celebrate the purple and gold. In addition to throwing the first pitch, Ayton, LaRavia and Thiero yelled out the traditional, “It’s Time for Dodger Baseball!” phrase.
They also got some pointers from Dodgers manager Dave Roberts before taking the mound, which appeared to have helped Thiero and LaRavia but not Ayton.
The Dodgers are the defending World Series champions and are currently the favorites to win it again this year, so the Lakers are certainly hoping some of that success will rub off onto them during their visit.
While the Lakers made some solid additions this offseason with Ayton being at the top of that list, it remains to be seen how all the pieces will fit together and how they will fare in a loaded Western Conference. They will worry about that during training camp though, which is less than two months away.
Deandre Ayton excited to join Lakers
After his signing became official, Deandre Ayton spoke about how excited he was to join the Lakers and get back to a winning situation.
“I wanted to be in a winning situation and my agents and I finally got a chance in free agency just to finally evaluate. I feel like the Lakers were the best position,” Ayton said. “They want to win a championship right now and I want to win right now as well and just be part of a winning legacy and be around winners. And everyone said it was something difficult to think about, but it just brings me back to playing with the Suns and being part of a winning organization. Once you win, everything is easy, really.”
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