According to reports, Deandre Ayton accepts the two -year agreement with Los Angeles Lakers after the Trail Blazers Buyout
Deandre Ayton accepted a contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, according to several relationships. The former number 1 in general finds a new home after being purchased by the Portland Trail-E Blazer Lakers find an update in the center after the initial race of the signatures at the beginning of the NBA free agency period.
According to reports, the agreement is a two -year agreement of $ 16.6 million, with a player option in the second year, for Jake Fischer. Ayton will earn $ 33.7 million in total this season, with $ 8.1 million from the salary of his Lakers, as well as $ 25.6 million from the acquisition of Portland.
Announcement
The contract gives Los Angeles a much necessary center, filling a training next to Lebron James, Luka Dončić, Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves.
The signature reports another new beginning for Ayton, who turns 27 on July 23 and which landed for the first time in Portland 21 months ago, while the success agreement that sent Damian Lillard to Milwaukee expanded to include the Phoenix Suns, who had just made their massive trade to bring Bradley Beal, and followed that expedition by Ayton (and the draft route) Blazer in exchange for Jusuf Nurkić, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson.
The move was a kind of acute reproach for Ayton, who had played a complementary key role together with Devin Booker and Chris Paul in the NBA finals of 2021 and had an average of 16.7 points on 59.7% shooting and 10.4 rebounds per game in his five seasons in Phoenix. But the Combination of Ayton’s Reportly Rocky Relationship with then-head coach Monty Williams, Multiple High-Profile Blow-ups and rumblings of Similar Striff With Other Members of the Organization, and His Persistentity to Play As Physically and ForceUully As His Frame And Athleticism suggests he Should-All of Which Had Left Phoenix’s Front Office Clearly UNCOMFORTABLE ABOUT GIVING HIM The Maximum-SalaRed Rookie-Scale Extension He Wanted, Leading to Him Hitting Limited Free Agency and finding a sheet of offered by the pacer, who were the Suns. They combined – led the Suns to decide to cut him on him as part of their organizational revision, observing “Ayton’s departure as an addition for subtraction”.
Announcement
The Suns have not experienced exactly that type of advantage from Ayton’s exit, to be swept away from the first round of the 2024 playoffs and unable to qualify for the post-stage of 2025 in the middle of the disastrous and short-lived of Booker/Beal/Kevin Durant. But Ayton has not exactly tried them, not even a little meanders for two seasons up and down on the reconstruction of the Portland teams, with its production largely intact-15.7 points on 56.9% shooting and 10.7 rebounds in 31.5 minutes per game in two seasons-but its impact seems very negligible.
Ayton had traits where he seemed to have found a little rhythm and comfort in Oregon-In particular the last phases of the 2023-24 season, when he had an average of just under 21 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steal-plus-blus-blocks on the last. Get the best version of him.
His impact was much less monstrous last season, however. Ayton marked on average 14.4 points per game and shot only 66.7% from the free shooting line, both career minimums, while continuing his worrying model of, while Adrian Bernecich put him in Blazersege, combining “its production and efficient extensions [with] As equally evident of disappointment and, in some cases, disinterest visible. “
Announcement
After suffering a left veal voltage in early February, Ayton never seen the Court of Portland again and found himself outside the future plans of a franchise that enrolled the Uconn Donovan Clingan center with choice n. 7 In 2024 and the great Chinese man Yang Hansen with selection n. 16 in 2025, while the veterans Robert Williams and Duop still employed. The blazers “have had commercial discussions with several teams interested in the 7 feet”, according to Michael Scotto of Hoopshype, but they have not been able to find any buyer also avoiding resuming any long -term wages; This led to Ayton to give up $ 10 million of his contract guaranteed by $ 35.6 million for the next season in exchange for having hit the market without restrictions in search of a new team and a “winning situation”.
Nobody has ever questioned Ayton’s physical tools: the mass that can make it a rebound of the Becchetti and Toro-in-A-China shop; The feathered touch on floats, hooks and facial jumpers from the media range; the 7-foot wing opening and the 9 feet-3 position flow rate that can make it a protector of the more rim and an internal obstacle; The balance and agility that make it a fluid athlete in the space on both ends. What still remains unclear, however, is whether it is able to put them all together with the level of commitment and severity of the approach that can afford it and a team that is not built around him, to make the most of all those tools and all that talent.
Seven years after going first absolutely, a third team will give Ayton the opportunity to put everything together. Perhaps the third time will be the charm.