Former Suns front office member rips Deandre Ayton

The Los Angeles Lakers continue learning a lesson Phoenix Suns fans have long known.

Deandre Ayton, for all his talent as a former No. 1 overall draft pick, continues to be an enigma. In early January, Lakers coach JJ Redick said that Ayton was “frustrated” because “he doesn’t feel like he’s getting the ball.”

It’s a familiar refrain from Ayton, who wants to be the go-to scoring option in the NBA, but has never shown that ability with any kind of consistency.

His motor has been questioned in the past, which, according to reporting from ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, led the Lakers training staff to wrap DA’s water bottles with a “Space Jam”-esque message to drink his “crunk juice” in order to “unleash the beast.”

McMenamin also reported that after a recent Lakers loss to the Orlando Magic, Ayton said of the Lakers, “They’re trying to make me Clint Capela,” followed by, “I’m not no Clint Capela.”

Even Capela himself — a former NBA rebounding champ who’s earned Defensive Player of the Year votes in two separate seasons (finishing sixth in voting in 2020-21 while with the Atlanta Hawks) — responded to the reported outburst by saying on social media, “U got 2 of the best floor general in the game my dawg Lockinnn” accompanied by some crying laughing emojis.

Now, a former member of the Suns front office is weighing in as well.

'You wish you were Clint Capela': Amin Elhassan scolds Deandre Ayton

Amin Elhassan, a host on the Dan Le Batard Show who contributes to a vast array of NBA radio shows on Sirius XM, did not hold back in his assessment of Ayton.

“You wish you were Capela,” Elhassan said. “And you know who else wishes you were Clint Capela? The Lakers, Luka, JJ Redick, LeBron…”

Elhassan, who spent time in the Suns organization as a video coordinator until eventually moving up to assistant director of basketball operations before leaving for ESPN, did not stop there.

“This is who he is,” Elhassan continued. “This is a guy who’s notoriously unreliable and has a deluded sense of self. And so, yeah, this is what you get, Lakers.”

Ouch.

Ayton recently had the perfect opportunity for a big revenge game against his former team. But when facing the Suns, who were without both Devin Booker and Dillon Brooks, DA was MIA.

In the 113-110 loss against Phoenix, Ayton scored two points on 1-of-3 shooting in 23 minutes of action. He added four rebounds and a steal but finished with a game-worst -24 plus/minus. That happened despite the fact that Suns center Mark Williams only played 13 minutes due to foul trouble. And yet, in those 13 minutes, Williams grabbed 10 rebounds to dwarf Ayton’s output on the glass.

“He’s been an immature guy since the day he stepped foot in the league,” Elhassan said. “Living in Phoenix, I saw and heard a lot of these things first-hand.”

Elhassan added an apt analogy as the kicker to describe Ayton’s tenure in the NBA.

“The tiger doesn’t change his stripes. He just changes jungles,” he said.

Ayton was a key piece to an NBA Finals run with the Suns back in 2021. But since that time he was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers in a three-team deal that landed the Suns Jusuf Nurkic and Grayson Allen (who went off for 28 points off the bench in the Suns' win over the Lakers) among other pieces. From there, Ayton was unceremoniously waived by Portland last summer before the Lakers picked him up in hopes he could be … a Clint Capela type.

A rim-running big man who protects the rim, rebounds with tenacity and catches lobs from Luka Doncic and LeBron James — two of the best playmakers in the game (as Capela himself alluded to).

At this stage, it appears as though Ayton is closer to playing himself out of the NBA than he is becoming a key piece to a Lakers’ playoff run.

The Suns saw the writing on the wall and opted to trade the former No. 1 overall pick away.

Now, it’s the Lakers who keep learning just how difficult it appears to be to keep Ayton engaged and motivated. It’s not their only problem as an organization, but it’s one that keeps getting louder as a multitude of critics weigh in.