Shaquille O’Neal hasn’t softened his stance on Deandre Ayton, and the Hall of Famer made that clear while talking to Heavy. With Ayton now out of the picture in Los Angeles after just one season, O’Neal didn’t hold back when assessing what the Lakers got from the former No. 1 pick.
“It’s only one great center and a lot of good centers,” O’Neal said. “I don’t know what the Lakers offense is gonna look like yet, but you got guys … they can do a lot of stuff around the rim, unlike ‘Dominayton,’ who didn’t do anything.”
That nickname, of course, came from Ayton himself. The 28-year-old gave himself the “Dominayton” label, and he even has it tattooed on his back.
But the reputation never matched the production. Across his NBA career, Ayton has never become the force that name suggests, and inconsistency has followed him from stop to stop.
By 2025, his standing around the league had slipped so far that the Portland Trail Blazers bought out the final year of his deal. Portland couldn’t find a trade partner, with his $35 million salary hanging over the situation, and decided to move on instead of keeping him for another season.
That opened the door for the Lakers, who took a low-cost swing by signing him to a two-year, $16.2 million deal with a player option on the second year. It was the kind of move that carried little risk and plenty of upside on paper. Ayton was supposed to benefit from playing alongside LeBron James and Luka Doncic, two stars who have helped centers look a whole lot better.
Instead, the Lakers mostly got the same old Ayton. There were good stretches.
There were rough ones too. And O’Neal, who has long been one of the loudest critics of modern big men, kept the pressure on throughout the season.
When Ayton fired off the now-famous “I’m not no Clint Capela” line, O’Neal came back hard, telling him to shut up and do his job.
Ayton finished the regular season with 12.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.6 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game. Those numbers weren’t disastrous, but they didn’t scream difference-maker either.
He did turn heads in the first round against the Houston Rockets, where the short-handed Lakers won the series in six games. That stretch made you wonder whether Los Angeles might actually keep him around. But the momentum didn’t last long.
In the Western Conference Semifinals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Ayton dropped back into the same frustrating pattern. He averaged 7.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.3 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game in the series while shooting just 45.2% from the field, a brutal number for a center. The Thunder swept the Lakers, and Game 4 ended up being Ayton’s final game in purple and gold.
Ayton later opted into his $8.1 million player option for 2026-27, but the Lakers moved him soon after in a trade to the Washington Wizards for Jaden Hardy and two second-round picks.
By then, Los Angeles had already pivoted to Walker Kessler as its new starting center. The Lakers landed Kessler in a sign-and-trade with the Utah Jazz, sending out two first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps before handing him a four-year, $130 million contract.
Ayton was never going to get that kind of money, but if he had delivered more in Los Angeles, he might still be there. Instead, he’s headed to Washington as a backup, while Kessler inherits the pressure that comes with the Lakers spotlight.
Kessler posted 14.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.8 blocks per game for the Jazz in 2025-26, and the Lakers will expect much more from him than they got from Ayton. If that doesn’t happen, O’Neal will be waiting.
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