When the Los Angeles Lakers traded for Dorian Finney-Smith late in December this past year, the team got more than a quintessential “3-and-D” player. They added a necessary ingredient to their locker room — a person who could handle criticism, who could defuse situations with a one-liner and who could laugh at himself while holding others accountable.
With “Doe Doe” agreeing to a deal with the Houston Rockets at the start of free agency, the Lakers lost more than their point-of-attack defender. They lost a cultural cornerstone of their locker room — the kind of player who makes a workplace a more pleasant place to be.
But all the good vibes in the world wouldn’t help the Lakers grab a rebound against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the playoffs. Culture can’t play above the rim. It can’t stand between the basket and Rudy Gobert. It can’t catch lobs from Luka Dončić.
Deandre Ayton can do all of that stuff. And that’s why the Lakers are excited to have him on their team.
The reasons why the team would want to work with the No. 1 pick from the 2018 NBA Draft are obvious. He’s averaged at least 14 points and 10 rebounds every year of his NBA career. He played in the NBA Finals setting screens and catching lobs from one the game’s pick-and-roll masters, Chris Paul. He’s 7 feet tall and 250 pounds but he doesn’t plod — an agile athlete inside the body of a giant.
Ayton was promising enough of a prospect that the Phoenix Suns have been spared the criticism the Sacramento Kings have lived with ever since they passed on Dončić in that 2018 draft (the Lakers could do the hilarious thing and add Marvin Bagley III in free agency to give them the top-three picks from that year).
The proven success, Ayton’s role on that 2021 Suns team, is one of the reasons why Dončić is eager about teaming up, league sources told The Athletic. The two also share an agency, WME headed by Bill Duffy, and got ready for that 2018 draft in the same hotel room.
On paper, Ayton makes the Lakers better. He’s the kind of talent that could convince LeBron James the Lakers are for real about competing for a title and the kind of weapon that has Dončić excited about the partnership.
But basketball isn’t a sport played on paper. It’s 48 minutes on the court that come after hours inside the practice facility, on training tables, in airplanes and in film sessions. The best teams make plays on the court because they limit their mistakes off them.
And with that in mind, it’s reasonable to remember how the Lakers managed to get Ayton on their roster in the first place.
Entering this offseason with the sort of parallel goals of improving last year’s team while also keeping enough flexibility to build out the best possible roster for Dončić moving forward, Ayton’s signing somehow accomplishes both. It does so, of course, because Portland is paying Ayton $26 million-ish to play against the Trail Blazers (and to do so for a franchise its fans hate). Ayton was only ever in Portland to begin with because the Suns also didn’t want him as part of their plans and were happy to swap him out for Jusuf Nurkić. The Athletic’s Jason Quick detailed the ways Ayton failed to meet Portland’s standards after his buyout from the Trail Blazers. And in Los Angeles, the spotlight is going to be brighter and the stakes are going to be higher.
But while timing isn’t everything — it’s close. And the Lakers might be getting Ayton at the perfect time. Dončić has already trimmed down ahead of EuroBasket, a massive chip on his shoulder after having his work ethic and commitment questioned after his trade to the Lakers. Austin Reaves is entering the most important season of his career, a massive contract in unrestricted free agency at stake. And James, who turns 41 in December, has made it clear that he has no time to wait.
For Ayton, who turns 27 at the end of July, the opportunity to re-establish himself couldn’t be more clear. While his contract with the Lakers has a second-year player option, no one involved wants him to exercise it — the hope being that he far outplays that $8 million valuation and commands way more next summer.
Team sources believe the Lakers have the right coaching staff to make that happen. In JJ Redick, they have a deadly serious head coach who also understands how to relate to players. Assistant Scott Brooks worked with Ayton in Portland two years ago, and Nate McMillan has either played or coached with or against virtually every personality type the NBA’s ever concocted. And if not, the Lakers have maintained their flexibility for next summer and beyond.
The Lakers weren’t going to do better this summer than Deandre Ayton, not with what was on the market, not with the little they had to offer. If you polled 29 other general managers about whether they’d rather trade a first-round pick for Nic Claxton or if they’d rather pay Ayton $8 million, we can be pretty confident in the answer.
And if there was hesitation, it wouldn’t be because of the stuff on the court. It would be concerns about the culture, the fit, the commitment, the understanding about the required sacrifices that need to be made in order to win at the highest level.
In Los Angeles, Ayton will have a chance to prove that he’s an absolute bargain. But the points and the rebounds aren’t going to be the real way to evaluate that.
It’ll happen more in the shadows, in those meetings and on those planes and in the training room. If the Lakers get the best of Ayton there, they’ll see the impact in another number, the most important one.
They’ll see it in the win column.
(Photo of LeBron James shooting over Deandre Ayton: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
