Los Angeles Lakers center Deandre Ayton has recently faced questions about his offensive performance. At the start of the year, Ayton was effective around the rim and successful with mid-range shots.
Before joining the Lakers, Ayton’s history was well-known, and head coach JJ Redick has worked to keep him involved in the offense throughout the season. When Ayton does not get enough touches, his focus can drop, which has led to a reduction in his playing time and fewer opportunities to close games. Despite this, Ayton has not complained or caused any issues for the team. The Lakers hope he can become a reliable option on offense.
In Friday night’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Ayton delivered one of his top plays of the season when he finished an alley-oop dunk from LeBron James during a fast break. After their 125-122 win, Ayton described how important that moment was for him.
“It’s all about reads,” Ayton said following their 125-122 win. “I always watch LeBron’s eyes and once he’s running, you want to run with him. Amazing things are going to happen when you run with LeBron. And I was just running the lane, trying to give him the mack truck lane, usually that’s his lane and he threw it up. It was good, that was one of the highlights of my career. I needed that one.”
With playoff spots at stake, each game is critical for Los Angeles as they try to play at their best level. If they reach the postseason, keeping Ayton on the court will be important so opponents cannot take advantage by forcing him off.
The Lakers have 27 games left in their regular season schedule as they work toward finding consistency and productivity from their center rotation before playoffs begin.
Ayton is seen as a potential fourth scoring option if he can regain his early-season form—a development that could help Los Angeles collect more wins moving forward.
Another ongoing issue for the team is performance in third quarters—a problem dating back before JJ Redick became head coach. Redick is aware of this challenge and continues efforts to address it.
From a player perspective, Deandre Ayton recognizes this weakness as well and says players need to work together to solve problems in third quarters.
