Ranking the 10 Blazers who need to play the most minutes the rest of this season

3. Deandre Ayton

Deandre Ayton needs major minutes the rest of this season because the Trail Blazers may have to make a major decision on his future. Already.

Ayton came to Portland to be the franchise's center of the future. He was the centerpiece of the Lillard trade and Billups called him a top-five center in the NBA before the season.

He's not been anything close to that.

He's only played 35 games and is averaging 13.9 points and 0.8 blocks, both career lows. He averaged an empty double-double on championship-level Phoenix teams and has somehow been even worse on a bad Blazers team. And this is all ignoring the off-court reports that recently surfaced about his tantrums and tirades.

It's a critical last few months for both Ayton and the Blazers to see if he really can be Portland's franchise center or if it's time to rethink that position after just one season.