Deandre Ayton’s first three games with the Wizards have already answered the biggest question hanging over this move: whether he’d accept life as a reserve.
Washington brought the former No. 1 overall pick off the bench for the first time since 2020, and Ayton has met the assignment head-on. The Wizards are starting Anthony Davis and Alex Sarr in the frontcourt, and Ayton knew the plan from the moment Washington sent two second-round picks and Jaden Hardy to land him. So far, there’s been no sign of the old friction that followed him in Phoenix and Portland.
That matters, because Ayton’s reputation has long come with baggage. In Phoenix, he wanted more touches and a bigger payday.
In Portland, he wasn’t always thrilled with his role. This version, though, has looked far more settled.
Through three games, he’s played just 15.3 minutes per contest but still put up 7.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 0.7 blocks while shooting 76.9 percent from the field.
The usage has been modest, but the buy-in has been obvious. Ayton has been screening, rolling hard to the rim and doing the dirty work without making a scene about touches or minutes.
He took only two shots against the Raptors and hasn’t gone over 16.3 minutes in any game, yet the body language has been all business. For a player who has previously bristled when things didn’t go his way, that’s a meaningful change.
It hasn’t gone unnoticed inside the broadcast booth, either. During the second quarter of the Wizards’ game against the Chicago Bulls, Drew Gooden laid out exactly what he thinks is happening.
"Deandre Ayton has cracked the code on how to stay in the NBA for 20 years. A lot of guys have an ego from starting and being a number one pick.
When they finally have to take a role to come off the bench, their ego can't take it, but not him. He's bought into this team.
He's bought into his role, and I'm loving it."
Gooden knows the territory. A former fourth overall pick himself, he carved out a 14-year NBA career as a role player and appeared in 64 playoff games, including as a starter on the Cavaliers’ 2007 team that reached the NBA Finals with a young LeBron James. From that vantage point, Ayton’s willingness to embrace a smaller job stands out.
It’s also paying off for Washington. The Wizards are 2-1, their best start through three games since 2022, and Ayton’s presence has been part of that early push. He’s even been working with Patrick Ewing on his post game, another sign that he’s leaning into the details rather than fighting the role.
There’s a business side to this, too. Ayton opted in to his $8.1 million player option before the Lakers traded him to Washington, and he’ll be an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2027.
He didn’t have a bigger deal waiting in free agency, and he knows the last thing he can afford is sliding toward minimum-value territory. The cleanest path to his next contract is obvious: keep buying in and keep helping the Wizards win.
The on-court numbers back up the impact. When Ayton has been the lone big man on the floor, Washington has posted a plus-10.5 net rating. There have been some spacing issues when he’s paired with Anthony Davis, but that’s a lineup problem for Brian Keefe to sort out, not a sign that Ayton is drifting.
For now, the fit looks real. Washington has not made the playoffs since 2021 and hasn’t won a playoff series since 2017, but the franchise is clearly trying to win again. The Wizards added veterans like Davis, Trae Young, Khris Middleton and Ayton to support their young core, and they’ve done it without having number one overall pick AJ Dybantsa on the floor yet.
After years of questions about whether Ayton would fully commit to a lesser role, Washington has gotten a straightforward answer. He has embraced it. He’s helping the team, and he’s doing it the right way.
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