Deandre Ayton’s debut season with the Los Angeles Lakers was full of ups and downs, and it finally ended on Monday when the Oklahoma City Thunder swept them with a 115-110 win at Crypto.com Arena. Hours before that do-or-die Game 4 contest for the Lakers in the Western Conference Semifinals, an Ayton clip went viral, which infuriated Lakers fans.
In the clip, Ayton is seen showing off his new “Dominayton” chain.
Lakers’ Deandre Ayton shows off his brand new ‘DominAyton’ chain 😮💨🔥💎
(Via izzyjeweler, nycluxury/IG) pic.twitter.com/JrruUKU74j
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 11, 2026
Dominayton is, of course, the nickname that Ayton has given himself. Now, it should be pointed out that this clip originally appeared on Instagram last week, when this Thunder series had just started. While that makes this a bit less worse, the timing still wasn’t ideal, and Lakers fans went off on Ayton.
“I swear I can’t stand this dude. He needs to save that money because he’ll be playing in China next year,” one fan ruthlessly stated Ayton won’t be in the NBA much longer.
“Get this fake a** tough guy off my team, please,” another fan wants Ayton gone from the Lakers.
“I’m being so serious, Deandre Ayton shouldn’t be allowed to play another game for the Lakers,” one fan doesn’t want to see Ayton play for the Lakers ever again.
“Is this a Joke? Yo, kick him out of the league, he is unserious,” one went a step further by calling for Ayton to be kicked out of the NBA.
“Getting chains off the court and taking belt on the court,” a fan roasted Ayton for getting this chain and then getting dominated on the court.
“I was so wrong about him, I thought he could change,” one fan is disappointed in Ayton.
Ayton probably ordered this chain during the first round against the Houston Rockets. He impressed in that series by slowing down Rockets star Alperen Sengun, which helped the Lakers beat them in six games.
Ayton claimed he was trying to change the narrative about him by dominating in these playoffs. The 27-year-old took the first steps towards doing that with how well he played against the Rockets, but undid all that good work against the Thunder.
For this series, Ayton averaged 7.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.3 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game. He shot 45.2% from the field, which is downright terrible for a center. Lakers head coach JJ Redick also appeared fed up with Ayton’s rebounding in Game 3. Redick seemingly said, “I can’t play him,” as he watched on in disgust from the bench.
Now, that clip and Ayton’s poor play are bad enough, but seemingly, there’s more. The big man was apparently playing NBA 2K26 at midnight before Game 4.
DeAndre Ayton was caught playing 2k at 12 AM before his Playoff game today against the Thunder 😭
(h/t @quezonmarz) pic.twitter.com/dzqnwzkqDC
— ໊ (@Curr) May 12, 2026
Ayton just doesn’t help himself, does he? He had all that praise coming his way during the Rockets series, and it’s now back to the usual.
You’d imagine the Lakers wouldn’t be all too interested in having Ayton around next season. He has an $8.1 million player option for 2026-27 and is likely going to opt out. Will any team give Ayton the kind of big bucks he’d desire? It seems unlikely, but time will tell.
