Los Angeles Lakers center and former Phoenix Suns No. 1 overall draft pick Deandre Ayton wasted little time opting into his $8.1 million player option for next season.
Instead of testing his value on the open market, DA opted to stay with LA at that price point. That was despite saying he “made a lot of sacrifices” during his first season with the Lakers and that his role as a rim protector and rebounder is “not what I want.”
Well, money talks, and Ayton is nevertheless heading back to the Lakers — while future Hall of Famer LeBron James reportedly is not.
Ayton averaged a career-low 12.5 points per game in his first season with the Lakers, but he also attempted a career-low 8.3 field goals per contest while converting a career-high 67.1% of those attempts. His usage percentage in LA’s system that featured (when healthy) Luka Doncic, LeBron James and the freshly re-signed Austin Reaves also, understandably, hit a career low at 16.7%.
While it’s fair for Ayton to say he made sacrifices on a team that had a plethora of other (better) scoring options, Ayton didn’t contribute in a big way in other areas. His 8.0 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game were both career lows, also marking the first time in his NBA career he averaged fewer than 10 rebounds and at least one assist on average. His defensive box plus/minus — an estimate of the defensive points per 100 possessions a player contributed when compared to a league-average player — was -0.9 for LA. That was the second-worst mark of his career, and the worst since his rookie season on an awful Suns team that finished 19-63.
Although Ayton decided to opt in to his deal, the Lakers are making it very clear they have little faith in him as the team’s starting center.
Lakers free-agent additions show they don’t believe strongly in Deandre Ayton
After DA opted into his player option for 2026-27, the Lakers made a flurry of free-agent moves that will bump him down the depth chart.
The Lakers made a big splash by acquiring hulking 7-foot-2 center Walker Kessler from the Utah Jazz in a sign-and-trade that will send two future unprotected first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps to Utah. Kessler is inking a four-year, $130 million contract with the Lakers.
Kessler is an elite rim protector when healthy, but he played just five games last season before undergoing season-ending surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
The Lakers didn’t stop there, though, as they also opted to sign 6-foot-9 big man Sandro Mamukelashvili to a four-year, $54 million deal.
Affectionately known as “Mamu,” the southpaw can play power forward or center and spreads the floor much better than Ayton. Mamukelashvili shot 38.9% from 3-point range last season with the Toronto Raptors and 37.3% from deep with the San Antonio Spurs the season prior.
It will be interesting to see how head coach JJ Redick’s playing rotations in the frontcourt settle next season. Throughout last season, Redick was at times critical of Ayton, saying he was “frustrated” by not getting the ball as much as he liked, and noting that Ayton was “having trouble catching the ball” even when the coaching staff ran plays to get him more involved.
Given Kessler’s whopping new contract, it stands to reason he’ll be the new starting 5 in Redick’s lineup. Where that leaves Ayton remains to be seen, but the often “frustrated” big man may be poised to see his usage drop even more moving forward.
Add us as a preferred source on Google