The Portland Trail Blazers gamble on Deandre Ayton's talent never paid off. Fortunately, they were able to steal Toumani Camara away from the Phoenix Suns, making the Jusuf Nurkic swap more than worthwhile.
Better yet, Portland reached a buyout agreement with Ayton before the season, getting him to forfeit $10 million of his salary. That decision gave their Western Conference rival, the Los Angeles Lakers, an opportunity to finally address their frontcourt woes.
It served as a mirage, distracting the Lakers and making them waste another year in their search for a true long-term solution.
Deandre Ayton was a mirage for the Lakers
After joining the historic Lakers franchise, Ayton said that he's happy to be playing "somewhere where it counts now." More recently, he took another jab at the Blazers, saying he felt as though he "disappeared" in Portland.
Blazers fans know that Ayton did disappear, but not in the way he meant it. He disappeared in terms of his lack of on-court impact as a skilled big man who never fully maximized that talent because he was always in the wrong place or lacked the necessary motor.
Ayton seemed to address those concerns at the start of the season for the Lakers, but Blazers (and Suns) fans knew that it was only a matter of time before the honeymoon phase wore off. His underwhelming season in Los Angeles proved that the environment was never the problem. This is now the third consecutive failed landing spot for Ayton, which should serve as a reality check that he must change his approach to remain a starter in this league.
Ayton has an $8.1 million player option for next season, but could decline it to pursue more money elsewhere. Teams around the league should be aware of the red flags by now and would be wise to avoid the Deandre Ayton experience entirely.
Portland was better off without him this season, as the buyout cleared the path for Donovan Clingan's breakout and a resurgent season for Robert Williams III. The ironic thing is, Portland is much better positioned for success in the coming seasons than the Lakers, the team Ayton was so happy to join to contend once again.
Just one summer later, it's already apparent that Portland's addition by subtraction move of dumping Ayton to find a more reliable, sustainable solution was the right one. The Lakers seem to have come to a similar realization and will hunt for the kind of lob-threat big man Luka Doncic thrives alongside.
Add us as a preferred source on Google