{"id":148133,"date":"2025-06-30T20:09:29","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T00:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=148133"},"modified":"2025-06-30T20:46:49","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T00:46:49","slug":"report-lakers-deandre-ayton-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/30\/report-lakers-deandre-ayton-free-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Ayton Free Agency Throws Wrench in Lakers Plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Lakers <\/span>turn over every stone<\/span><\/a> in search of a center, they are in the race for <\/span>Deandre Ayton<\/span><\/a> following his <\/span>buyout from the Trail Blazers<\/span><\/a>. The hold on Ayton, however, may have also hindered the Lakers\u2019 plans of signing a familiar veteran center.<\/span><\/p>\n

Report: Ayton Free Agency Throws Wrench in Lakers Plans<\/h2>\n

Latest on Lakers Pursuit of Ayton<\/b><\/h3>\n

During <\/span>live coverage<\/span><\/a> of this year\u2019s free agency, Lakers Nation\u2019s Trevor Lane revealed that the Lakers, as expected, are waiting on Ayton, who clears waivers Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRather than sign Brook Lopez, the Lakers are likely to wait for Deandre Ayton. We\u2019ll see if that turns out to be true, but [a] little bit of info just came my way there.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Nov
Nov 4, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton (2) dunks the ball against New Orleans Pelicans forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (50) and guard Jose Alvarado (15) during the first half at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The rumor comes after a similar report by insider Chris Haynes, who said that <\/span>Ayton to LA is a \u201cstrong possibility.\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it makes sense just for the route that the Lakers are trying to go,” he added. “This is Luka\u2019s team, and they want to build for him. They want to have guys around the same age that can go where he goes. So I think you\u2019re looking at the future of what the Lakers are trying to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ayton’s Possible Fit with the Lakers<\/b><\/h3>\n

Ayton, the No. 1 overall pick in 2018, spent the last two years as a solid starter on a rebuilding Blazers team. This season, despite only playing 40 games, he averaged 14.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.0 block per game. He also shot 56%, 19% from three (6\/32) and 67% from the charity stripe. A February <\/span>left calf strain<\/span><\/a> sidelined him for four weeks before it kept him out for the rest of the season.<\/span><\/p>\n

The bruising big man has skills the Lakers need in the starting lineup. Aside from being a legitimate <\/span>lob threat<\/span><\/a>, he also has a reliable post-up game and decent midrange jumper. At 26 years old\u2014as Haynes mentioned\u2014he is also a seamless fit for the future with <\/span>Luka Doncic<\/span><\/a>, who has thrived with athletic centers.<\/span><\/p>\n

In evaluating a potential fit between Ayton and the Lakers, \u201cHoops Tonight\u201d host Jason Timpf <\/span>said<\/span><\/a>, \u201cIn order for a team to make sense for DeAndre Ayton, they basically have to be desperate. And the Lakers are desperate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Citing previous concerns around Ayton\u2019s attitude, he added, \u201cA disengaged, unfocused Deandre Ayton is still several orders of magnitude better than any center the Lakers currently have in-house. For Lakers fans, if it goes down, be ready to be incredibly frustrated with Deandre Ayton sometimes. But just remember, it could have been <\/span>Jaxson Hayes<\/span><\/a>, could have been substantially worse.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

If the Lakers pull off an Ayton signing, especially for a cheaper deal, it would catapult them into the \u201cwinners\u201d category of free agency.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lakers Miss Out on Lopez Reunion<\/b><\/h3>\n

The Lakers were also tied to <\/span>Brook Lopez<\/span><\/a>, who started for them in 2017-18 before spending the last seven years with the Milwaukee Bucks. However, any notion of a reunion is out the window since he agreed to a deal<\/a> with the rival Clippers, backing up another former Laker in Ivica Zubac<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the Lakers turn over every stone in search of a center, they are in the race for Deandre Ayton following his buyout from the Trail Blazers. The hold on Ayton, however, may have also hindered the Lakers\u2019 plans of signing a familiar veteran center. Report: Ayton Free Agency Throws Wrench in Lakers Plans Latest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":148139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-news"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148133"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148173,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148133\/revisions\/148173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}