The Portland Trail Blazers have had an up-and-down season, which is to be expected of their extremely young roster that is in the second year of a rebuilding phase. Most recently, Portland had a "down" game in their 132-114 loss to the Brooklyn Nets.
The Blazers should want to lose games to help their chances of landing a top pick in the 2025 draft, and their loss to Brooklyn could be significant at the end of the season. Portland has the sixth-worst record in the league at 13-26, while Brooklyn sits seventh at 14-26. If the season ended today, the Blazers would have a 37.2 percent chance, and the Nets would have a 31.9 percent chance of landing in the top four.
However, there are right and wrong ways to go about losses in terms of player development. Although Scoot Henderson and Toumani Camara had career games, Ayton's lack of effort is hindering the Blazers' development this season.
Portland should have seen this version of Ayton coming. Around this time last year, Ayton told Basketball Intelligence (subscription required) that he has "nothing to prove in this league" and that he's "a max player, and [will] continue to be a max player."
The Blazers need to trade Deandre Ayton
Not only is Ayton not a max player, but the Blazers will also have difficulty finding a trade partner willing or able to take on his $34 million contract at the Feb. 6 deadline. If that is the case, Portland must do everything possible to move Ayton this offseason.
His playing time for the remainder of the season should also be earned, not given. Chauncey Billups has done a great job of holding players accountable this season, as there have been multiple times throughout the season when Ayton hasn't played his normal allotted minutes due to a lack of effort.
Ayton is 26 and the fifth oldest player on an extremely young Blazers' roster. It's one thing to bring in veterans who can set an example and provide leadership to a young core, one instance being Chris Paul joining an up-and-coming San Antonio Spurs team. But Ayton's inconsistent lack of effort has the opposite leadership effect that Paul has in San Antonio.
The Blazers need to trade Ayton to prevent their youth development from being hindered any further and get off his massive contract. Those are more pressing issues than clearing a starting spot for Donovan Clingan. Portalnd's center position is eventually Clingan's for the taking, but he still needs to improve his conditioning to effectively play starter-level minutes regardless.
Still, the sooner the Blazers can trade Ayton, the better.