Austin Reaves isn’t buying all the heat Deandre Ayton took during his brief run with the Lakers.
On the Pardon My Take podcast, Reaves pushed back on the idea that Ayton was simply a disappointment in Los Angeles, saying the big man looked a lot different when things were right mentally.
“A lot of people talk s*** about DA, and kinda how he goes about the game, but when he was in a good headspace for us last year, he was top-10 big in the league,” Reaves said. “It’s just trying to manage the ups and downs.
Kinda was hard. But at the end of the day, he was a good dude.
Good to be around.”
There were stretches that backed up Reaves’ point, and the clearest one came in the Lakers’ first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets. With Reaves and Luka Doncic both out injured, Los Angeles entered the postseason as a heavy underdog. Ayton drew the assignment of battling two-time All-Star Alperen Sengun, and the expectation was that he’d be overmatched.
Instead, Ayton held his own for much of the series and gave the Lakers real production on both ends. Los Angeles won in six games, and Ayton finished with averages of 11.1 points, 10.8 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.2 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game.
But the good stretch didn’t last. Against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Semifinals, Ayton disappeared.
The Thunder swept the Lakers, and Ayton’s numbers dropped to 7.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.3 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game. JJ Redick even benched him at times in that series, a clear sign his time in Los Angeles was running out.
That stint with the Lakers had started with a two-year, $16.2 million deal in 2025 that included a player option for the second season. Ayton later picked up that $8.1 million option, but the Lakers soon moved on, agreeing to trade him to the Washington Wizards for Jaden Hardy and two second-round picks.
It was a modest return for a former No. 1 pick, but Ayton’s career has been defined by that kind of swing. Phoenix took him first overall in the 2018 NBA Draft, expecting a dominant force in the middle.
Instead, the inconsistency that followed became the story. The Suns sent him to the Portland Trail Blazers in 2023, then bought out his contract in 2025 after failing to find a trade partner.
For Ayton, the Lakers were viewed as a chance to reset his image and reclaim some standing around the league. He didn’t make the most of it, and the result is a future that now looks uncertain. With his track record, a huge contract doesn’t appear to be coming anytime soon.
The Lakers have already moved on to Walker Kessler, who arrived in a sign-and-trade with the Utah Jazz and landed a four-year, $130 million deal. Los Angeles clearly sees him as a major upgrade, and the expectation is that he’ll thrive in the role Ayton left behind.
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