{"id":177942,"date":"2026-02-16T13:50:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T18:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=177942"},"modified":"2026-02-16T13:50:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T18:50:33","slug":"lakers-deandre-ayton-bleacher-report-overrated-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/02\/16\/lakers-deandre-ayton-bleacher-report-overrated-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Big Man Earns Spot on Bleacher Report’s ‘Overrated’ List"},"content":{"rendered":"

The summertime acquisition of <\/span>Deandre Ayton<\/span><\/a> was originally celebrated by most Lakers fans, believing they had found their answer at center next to <\/span>LeBron James<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Luka Doncic<\/span><\/a>. However, much like the team\u2019s season, Ayton\u2019s start in LA has been a rollercoaster, lumping him with some unfortunate company heading out of the All-Star break.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lakers Big Man Earns Spot on Bleacher Report’s ‘Overrated’ List<\/h2>\n

B\/R\u2019s Greg Swartz on Ayton\u2019s Status<\/h3>\n

Ayton landed sixth on Greg Swartz\u2019s list of the <\/span>league\u2019s most overrated players<\/span><\/a> Monday, with Swartz writing in part:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe No. 1 overall pick of the 2018 draft has long frustrated his teams with a lack of motor. Former Suns head coach Monty Williams famously benched him in a Game 7 against the Dallas Mavericks in the 2022 playoffs. Now JJ Redick is <\/span>seeing a familiar lack of effort<\/b><\/a> at times.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite his 7’0″ frame and 7’6″ wingspan, Ayton has never been a defensive anchor even with his physical advantages.<\/span><\/p>\n

Averaging just 1.0 block in over 30.6 minutes for his career, opponents are making a healthy <\/span>59.3 percent of their shots at the rim<\/b><\/a> this season with him as the primary defender. For comparison, that’s nearly identical to Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who’s six inches shorter.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In 46 games, Ayton has averaged 13.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 0.9 assists in addition to the lone block per game. Questions over his effort and maturity\u2014key issues <\/span>during his time in Portland<\/span><\/a>\u2014have once again reared their ugly heads at <\/span>various points of the season<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>Jaxson Hayes<\/span><\/a>\u2019 strong play as of late has not helped Ayton\u2019s case, either, igniting a debate over whether another <\/span>change to the starting five<\/span><\/a> is necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ayton Must Prove Himself Upon Return<\/h3>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

With 28 regular-season games remaining, the Lakers need to find something that powers them to a strong finish. <\/span>Luke Kennard<\/span><\/a> has offered hope with his <\/span>sharpshooting<\/span><\/a> and gravity. The team\u2019s recent switch to zone<\/a> has become a pleasant surprise<\/span>. But it\u2019s the Lakers\u2019 stability in the middle that\u2019s worth monitoring going forward, especially in a conference loaded with elite bigs that can play LA off the floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite Hayes stuffing the stat sheet last week and remaining an ideal lob threat for Doncic, it\u2019s impossible to see him sticking with the first five once Ayton is healthy. Ayton hasn\u2019t come off the bench since <\/span>Aug. 10, 2020<\/span><\/a>\u2014when he <\/span>missed a coronavirus test<\/span><\/a> and sat out of the first quarter awaiting results. Unless he\u2019s placed on a minutes restriction when he returns or Redick goes for a bold experiment after all, Ayton\u2019s spot in the starting lineup is essentially guaranteed.<\/span><\/p>\n

That makes the rest of Ayton\u2019s campaign vital for himself and the Lakers, who brought him in knowing his polarizing history in Phoenix and Portland. Ayton needs to answer the call and prove doubters wrong yet again, or the <\/span>Lakers could turn to free agency<\/span><\/a> to find their long-term fit at the five.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The summertime acquisition of Deandre Ayton was originally celebrated by most Lakers fans, believing they had found their answer at center next to LeBron James and Luka Doncic. However, much like the team\u2019s season, Ayton\u2019s start in LA has been a rollercoaster, lumping him with some unfortunate company heading out of the All-Star break. Lakers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":177944,"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":[1419,1962,2279,1133,769],"class_list":["post-177942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-news","tag-deandre-ayton","tag-jaxson-hayes","tag-jj-redick","tag-luka-doncic","tag-luke-kennard"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177942","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=177942"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177955,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177942\/revisions\/177955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}