{"id":148283,"date":"2025-07-01T13:20:34","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T17:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=148283"},"modified":"2025-07-01T13:20:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T17:20:34","slug":"sources-reason-why-deandre-ayton-was-bought-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/07\/01\/sources-reason-why-deandre-ayton-was-bought-out\/","title":{"rendered":"SOURCES: Reason Why Deandre Ayton Was Bought Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND<\/strong> \u2013 The Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> stunned the NBA this week by confirming Deandre Ayton<\/a> had been bought out of his contract, freeing the former No. 1 pick to test the market once again. As Jason Quick of The Athletic<\/em> reported<\/a>, Portland\u2019s issue with Ayton went deeper than missed shots or injuries. Quick explained the franchise could accept \u201cAyton missing shots or his man scoring on him,\u201d but they drew the line at his \u201cbad ways.\u201d According to team sources, Ayton showed up late to flights and practices, skipped rehab sessions, and let frustration explode in the locker room and on the bench. When the front office realized his presence could affect their young core, they acted.<\/p>\n

SOURCES: Reason Why Deandre Ayton Was Bought Out<\/h2>\n

Talent Isn\u2019t Always Enough<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Deandre
Jan 21, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) shoots against Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton (2) during the second half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Deandre Ayton was bought out of his deal, some wondered how Portland could walk away from a talented, seven-foot center on an expiring contract. But talent wasn\u2019t the problem \u2014 professionalism was.<\/p>\n

Ayton\u2019s career in Portland featured just 95 games and only a handful of dominant nights. As Jason Quick noted, \u201cHabits in the NBA are formed when players are young,\u201d and Portland feared Ayton\u2019s habits would spread to young big men like Donovan Clingan<\/a> and Yang Hansen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Portland proved they are not afraid to invest big in the right veteran. They traded for Jrue Holiday<\/a> and his hefty contract to mentor Scoot Henderson.<\/a> But with Ayton, the organization decided paying him to leave was a better bet for its future.<\/p>\n

An Old Pattern Resurfaces<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Ayton\u2019s motor being questioned isn\u2019t new. In Phoenix<\/a>, his poor effort in the 2022 playoffs led to a benching. Then a shouting match with coach Monty Williams. In Portland, coach Chauncey Billups believed he could steer Ayton in the right direction. He had done the same thing with JR Smith<\/a> and Rasheed Wallace<\/a> years ago. But even Billups, known for managing big personalities, found Ayton unchanged.<\/p>\n

Ayton\u2019s lack of self-awareness remains glaring. He once told reporters, \u201cI\u2019m a max (contract) player and I\u2019ll continue to be a max player.\u201d But his actions never matched the confidence.<\/p>\n

The Lakers\u2019 Interest Grows<\/strong><\/h3>\n

With Deandre Ayton bought out, another franchise has emerged ready to try what Phoenix and Portland could not: the Los Angeles Lakers.<\/a> Multiple reports<\/a> say the Lakers are heavily interested in signing Ayton.<\/p>\n

The Lakers believe their culture \u2014 and the weight of wearing purple and gold \u2014 could push Ayton to finally meet his potential. The franchise hopes that the lore of being great on a historic team will inspire Ayton to become the center his raw talent suggests he can be.<\/p>\n

Of course, the Lakers would just be another team believing they can succeed where others have failed. But given the history of stars finding their best selves in Los Angeles, the optimism is understandable.<\/p>\n

A Fresh Start for Portland<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Portland, meanwhile, sets a new tone for its rebuild. The front office wants young players like Scoot Henderson<\/a>, Deni Avdija,<\/a> Toumani Camara<\/a>, Clingan, and Hansen to learn discipline and professionalism \u2014 traits Ayton never consistently showed.<\/p>\n

Jason Quick summed it up best: \u201cThey can have bad plays, but not bad ways.\u201d Deandre Ayton being bought out move proves Portland will protect its culture at any cost.<\/p>\n

Where Ayton Goes Next<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Lakers might be Ayton\u2019s next stop, and maybe they can unlock what others could not. He still has undeniable skills \u2014 soft midrange touch, size, and speed on the break.<\/p>\n

But as Portland\u2019s decision proves, none of that matters without the habits to match. Now, the ball is in the Lakers\u2019 court to see if their storied franchise can inspire Ayton to change his ways \u2014 or repeat the same cycle again.<\/p>\n

PORTLAND \u2013 The Portland Trail Blazers stunned the NBA this week by confirming Deandre Ayton had been bought out of his contract, freeing the former No. 1 pick to test the market once again. As Jason Quick of The Athletic reported, Portland\u2019s issue with Ayton went deeper than missed shots or injuries. Quick explained the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":148291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_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":[62,1608,26,3,23,4721],"tags":[50219,1419,4261,4557],"class_list":["post-148283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-news","category-trailblazers","category-trade-rumors","tag-2025-nba-free-agents","tag-deandre-ayton","tag-nba-buyout","tag-nba-offseason"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148283","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\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148283"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148295,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148283\/revisions\/148295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}