Deandre Ayton has long been accused of having a low motor, and he gave his critics more ammunition during the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 111-103 win over the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center on Tuesday. With Zion Williamson at the free-throw line in the second quarter, Ayton was tasked with boxing out Yves Missi, but he failed miserably at that task.
Ayton put in very little effort and allowed Missi to grab the offensive rebound after Williamson missed. The Pelicans’ big man then found Trey Murphy III, who got an and-1. Lakers head coach JJ Redick wouldn’t have been too pleased with Ayton’s effort and immediately subbed him out for Jaxson Hayes.
Deandre Ayton doing absolutely NOTHING on the court.
JJ Redick IMMEDIATELY subbed him out 😭 pic.twitter.com/f8oEjoLpbt
— BrickCenter (@BrickCenter_) January 7, 2026
As the commentators pointed out, this has always been the knock on Ayton. There is one play, in particular, that sums up the kind of effort that the 27-year-old sometimes puts in during games.
This what Deandre Ayton effort level on a team with KD and Book, in the 2nd round of the playoffs.
Y’all can’t be surprised man pic.twitter.com/LH5gK8vd0Q https://t.co/5IIRT8TnyA
— LEEZUS (@AndrewLeezus) January 7, 2026
That was terrible. Getting back to this Pelicans game, Ayton headed to the bench with just over four minutes left in the quarter and stayed there for the rest of the half. Now, whether that was primarily down to this play or the fact that he had played about 14 minutes already, is something only Redick can tell us.
To be fair to Ayton, he had a pretty good game apart from this sequence. He finished with 18 points (9-16 FG), 11 rebounds, three assists, one steal, and two blocks, as the Lakers improved to 23-11.
Ayton had been coming under fire for his play toward the end of 2025, as the Lakers closed out the year with four losses in five games. Redick then admitted on Saturday that he felt the big man might be frustrated with his role in the offense. He stressed they had to give him more touches at the start of games and have been doing that since.
Ayton scored the first points of the game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday. Then, here against the Pelicans, he took two of the first three shots for the Lakers. There has been a change in the game plan, and Ayton was asked about that after the Grizzlies clash. Quite interestingly, he stated, “Bigs can’t feed themselves.”
Ayton’s mood does appear to have soured a bit compared to the start of the season. It’s crucial that even if he isn’t too happy, there isn’t much slippage in terms of effort. If there is, he’ll only hurt his chances of getting the kind of deal he’d want if he hits free agency this summer.
Ayton doesn’t appear to be in the Lakers’ long-term plans at the moment. They had signed him to a two-year, $16.6 million deal this past summer, with a player option for the second season. It was viewed as his last chance, but also a great audition where he could show that the criticisms were unfair.
Ayton did a good job of that at the start, but then reverted to his bad habits at the end of 2025. It got to the point that Redick benched him down the stretch of their first game of 2026 against the Grizzlies on Friday. Simply put, it is never a good sign when Hayes is viewed as a better option than you.
Ayton has fared better since, and we’ll see him in action next when the Lakers take on the San Antonio Spurs at Frost Bank Center on Wednesday at 9:30 PM ET.
