Deandre Ayton had an impressive start to life with the Los Angeles Lakers, but his stock is at an all-time low now. Ayton has been struggling on the court, and he has now made matters worse with his recent comments.
Following a rare 21-point, 13-rebound outing against the Orlando Magic on Tuesday, Ayton claimed the Lakers are trying to turn him into Clint Capela. The 27-year-old isn’t happy with his role in the offense primarily being just catching lobs, as has been the case for Capela, and he has been blasted for those remarks.
Capela has fired back at Ayton, and now Channing Frye, LeBron James‘ former teammate on the Cleveland Cavaliers, is the latest to go after him. Frye roasted the big man and gave him a reality check on the Road Trippin’ Show.
“Deandre Ayton is a master of nothing,” Frye said. “In what world do I throw Deandre Ayton the basketball when I have f***ing Austin Reaves, LeBron, and Luka [Doncic]? Stop it. You’re going to get JJ Redick fired. Who’s running those plays? What? When have you seen consistency from the man?
“You’ve never seen it,” Frye continued. “So, him saying, ‘They want me to be Clint Capela.’ Yeah, b****, he’s averaged a double-double for the majority of his career. Hear me out. I just think that’s ridiculous that you think you’re this magical thing on a championship-contending team when you haven’t shown that you could do the basics every single night. Defend, rim run, rebound. He hasn’t shown that he can do that.”
Now, to be fair to Ayton, he has averaged a double-double over the course of his career as well. In fact, this season is the first in which he hasn’t done it.
In his first seven seasons in the NBA, Ayton averaged 16.4 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. He isn’t rebounding quite as well for the Lakers, putting up 13.0 points, 8.4 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game in 2025-26.
Rebounding isn’t the only area where Ayton hasn’t been great, though. The general effort level has been low, and he has come under fire in the past as well for having a low motor. Ayton has struggled defensively, too. He was never really viewed as a good defender, but has been a bit worse than you’d have thought he’d be.
Like Ayton, Frye once starred for the University of Arizona, and he is extremely disappointed by what he has seen from a fellow former Wildcat.
“People don’t just let you go,” Frye stated. “You’re [a] 7-foot number one pick, and people can’t wait for you to leave. Again, this was the biggest issue at the beginning of the year. Your ego got to stay away. There’s already enough egos. I’m just tired of hearing it. A team is already struggling defensively. How the f*** are you struggling defensively if you’re their defensive anchor?”
It is true that teams have been more than willing to get rid of Ayton. The Phoenix Suns had selected him with the first pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, and they traded him to the Portland Trail Blazers in 2023 for a package centered around Jusuf Nurkic.
Just two years later, in 2025, the Trail Blazers bought out Ayton’s contract, seemingly because they were unable to find a team willing to trade for him. The Lakers then snapped him up on a two-year, $16.6 million contract, and it was looking like a bargain at one point. That’s no longer the case now, and they might be looking to ship him out of town in the summer, if he opts into his player option for 2026-27.
