Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton has garnered a lot of interest from teams in the free agency market, primarily being linked in trade rumors with the Los Angeles Lakers. While the big man is in the process of completing his buyout, The Athletic’s Jason Quick revealed an interesting story regarding why the 26-year-old is in such a situation in the first place. He wrote:
“But in the end, they couldn’t live with his bad ways. The tardiness to team flights and practices, according to a team source. The skipping of rehabilitation appointments. Fans saw him slam chairs when he was taken out of games. And a team source said there were tantrums in the locker room when he was sidelined for poor effort.”
Ayton’s place with the Trail Blazers seemed fairly solid. After a great start to his career with the Phoenix Suns, the center seemed to set out on his own. Unfortunately, his time in Portland wasn’t as fruitful as the team repeatedly ended seasons in the lower rung of the West.
Ayton’s regular-season averages of 14.4 points and 10.2 rebounds are quite impressive, especially if you’re the Lakers and have a dire need for a starting center.
With Clint Capela headed to the Rockets and Brook Lopez signing with the cross-city rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Purple and Gold have effectively whiffed on most of their priority big man targets in free agency. In light of this, Ayton’s numbers and performance, along with his connection with Doncic’s agent, Bill Duffy, make him a favorable target.
But Quick’s article reveals a lot of interesting aspects about the center that could become a matter of concern for the Purple and Gold as they continue to pursue him.
Ayton’s poor professionalism and work ethic could be largely detrimental to their title aspirations if they are to sign him. His temper tantrums may also not be conducive to building camaraderie within the locker room, a critical aspect of being part of a team, especially given how long the regular season is.
The Lakers are in a very fickle situation to start off the free agency period. With immense pressure to form a title-contending team, courtesy of LeBron James, the Purple and Gold are yet to make significant moves to inspire such confidence.
While they are still more than likely to proceed with signing Ayton, if the opportunity presents itself, the team will still be in need of backup centers to fill out their frontcourt.
With the addition of Jake LaRavia from the Sacramento Kings being the only move in free agency thus far, the Lakers are in a tough spot. But with a lot of offseason left to go, the front office still has some flexibility with proceeding with the roster construction process.
