Why the Lakers' success depends on Deandre Ayton -- and vice versa

ON THE LAUNDRY list of errors that doomed the Los Angeles Lakers in Tuesday's gut-wrenching loss to the Orlando Magic, Deandre Ayton's play wasn't one of them.

Far from it.

The Lakers center scored 21 points on just 11 field goal attempts and snatched a game-high 13 rebounds, giving L.A. a live, active big to combat Orlando's rugged front line of Wendell Carter Jr., Paolo Banchero and Jonathan Isaac.

Asked if the effort he played with was recognized by his teammates, leading to more opportunities, Ayton gave a diplomatic answer.

"The ball finds energy," Ayton told reporters. "They believe in me when I'm down there and sealing and they see me running hard to the rim and crashing, they reward me."

It was Ayton's first 20-10 game in nearly a month and, to him, proof of the role he should occupy for the Lakers more often.

When he was finished speaking to the group, Ayton made his way back toward the showers and said what he really felt -- loud enough for anyone still in the locker room to hear.

"They're trying to make me Clint Capela," Ayton said, referring to the Houston Rockets' now backup center, who a decade ago made his impact as a lob-catching, rim-running big on a team that made it to two conference finals.

"I'm not no Clint Capela!"

Though the glaring storyline coming out of the loss was how Luka Doncic passed up an open shot in the final seconds and instead dumped the ball off to LeBron James for a desperation heave, there was little attention paid to how Doncic got that open look to begin with.

Coming out of the timeout, Ayton executed his part in Lakers coach JJ Redick's play with precision, running from the backcourt to the left wing and squaring his shoulders to set a hard pick on the Magic's Anthony Black to free up Doncic for a clean catch beyond the arc.

Being a screen setter in clutch time is not what is supposed to be asked of a player who was the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft -- two spots ahead of his now teammate Doncic, three ahead of Jaren Jackson Jr., four ahead of Trae Young, 10 ahead of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and 32 before Jalen Brunson. Ayton, however, has never developed the reputation as a go-to star. Instead, his reputation has become one of a talented but unserious player, the kind who jokingly executes cartwheels in the locker room and disappears on the court for large stretches at a time.

Marcus Smart, who also signed with L.A. as a free agent last summer and whose locker is situated next to Ayton's, acknowledged the room for growth.

"I think he's done OK," Smart said this week. "He definitely could be better, we all could. But the thing I love about it is he understands it and he's working. We all are trying to figure it out; this is new to everybody. He's doing his best, but he understands it's another notch that we need him to go to, and we're going to try to get him there and help with that. But he knows he's got to do his part as well."

Or perhaps most importantly, if he can accept the part the Lakers want him to play.

THERE WAS LESS than an hour before tipoff against the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 13 when Ayton entered the Lakers' locker room.

Just inside the door, Ayton's breezy walk slowed down and his gait suddenly stiffened for a few awkward steps before the big man hurtled toward the floor.

What would have been one of the more bizarre pregame injuries in NBA history morphed into something else completely: Ayton caught his fall by placing both hands over his head and gracefully executed a cartwheel, followed by a somersault, to land safely on two feet.

"I hope that made y'all day!" Ayton bellowed to the room after sticking the landing. "That was a 7-footer, 260 [pounds], that just did a cartwheel!"

The Willy Wonka-esque entrance was nearly as extraordinary as the circumstances that led to the former No. 1 pick falling into the Lakers' lap last summer.

The intentional fall provided a glimpse of the raw, athletic talent that made Ayton the Phoenix Suns' top selection -- and an example of a questionable reputation that has followed him for years across the NBA.

Early on in his career, he would sometimes take on a different persona when answering questions to the media -- "Alejandro," who spoke with an accent, was a favorite of his; "Josh," whose mood would swing at the drop of a hat, was another -- sources told ESPN. And he would sometimes stay in character when interacting with players and coaches. With the Portland Trail Blazers, where he played from 2023 to 2025, he infamously missed a home game against the Brooklyn Nets because he didn't prepare to make the commute to the arena with the frigid forecast and was reportedly stuck in his neighborhood because of snow and icy conditions.

But when a player has a standing reach of 9-foot-3, a wingspan of 7-foot-5 and a 43-inch vertical leap, certain behaviors can be tolerated as peccadilloes, rather than shunned as unprofessional.

AUSTIN REAVES, SLOWLY ramping up from a left calf strain, took a break from his individual skill work and plopped himself down in a courtside seat at Ball Arena. As he filled his lungs with the thin Denver air, his eyes fixed on a teammate working himself into a full lather before the game.

It was a week after the Hawks game -- the night that started with Ayton's flips and finished with him scoring 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting and 18 rebounds -- and the big man was connecting on midrange shot after midrange shot as the Lakers readied to play the team that ended their seasons in 2023 and 2024.

"That guy right there is the X factor," Reaves told ESPN, gesturing to Ayton. "He changes our ceiling."

Ayton's performance so far this season has been a success by many measures.

The Lakers are 16-3 when Ayton has at least 10 field goal attempts, but that stat comes with a major caveat: Only three of those games came when James, Doncic and Reaves were also in the lineup. There were more touches to go around.

He's averaging 13.2 points, 8.5 rebounds and 0.9 blocks per game. He has appeared in 49 games, making him the second-most available player on the team, trailing only Jake LaRavia.

While he's averaging a career-low 9.0 field goal attempts, he's shooting a career-best 66.7% from the field. That's the second-best mark in the NBA, behind the Minnesota Timberwolves' Rudy Gobert, and, if it holds, would be the best by any Laker for a season since Wilt Chamberlain in 1972-73.

But his impact is judged relative to expectation, much like his team is.

Consider a hypothetical: Team A is 11 games over .500 in the most competitive conference in the most competitive basketball league in the world after its best three players were on the court together for only 13 of the first 57 games. A success story, no doubt.

But when the Lakers label is applied and the star power of James, Doncic and Reaves is added to the equation, it's just not as impressive, context be damned.

The same goes for Ayton, whose draft status and early postseason exploits in Phoenix -- helping the Suns to their first NBA Finals appearance in nearly three decades at age 22 -- set the standard he must build on to be seen as reaching his potential.

"As a first pick," a Western Conference scout told ESPN, "he's mostly underachieved."

THE 2025-26 SEASON began with promise for Ayton. He put up 20 and 10 in six of the Lakers' first 15 games, including in wins against teams featuring elite big men in San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama and the Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo.

But then the Lakers went 4-7 from Dec. 20 through Jan. 12, and Ayton's momentum halted, too.

After scoring just four points on 2-for-4 shooting on Jan. 2 against the Memphis Grizzlies, Ayton aired a rare grievance.

"Bigs can't feed themselves," he said.

Redick -- who has remained an advocate behind the scenes, sources close to Ayton told ESPN -- took the feedback in stride. In a rematch with Memphis two nights later, Redick called the first play for Ayton and the early score spurred him to 15 points, eight rebounds and three blocks for the game.

"It's a tale as old as time for a big guy," Redick said. "That's the reality of being a big: Someone has to pass you the ball. You're not initiating the offense."

There's also an ego that is needed to thrive on the NBA stage. Similar to James' "CHOSEN 1" tattoo that spans from shoulder to shoulder, Ayton has "DOMINAYTON" inked in jagged capital letters across his upper back.

The Lakers have stoked that ego, too: Rob Pelinka, team president of basketball operations and general manager, commissioned a black T-shirt with a gold screen print depicting half of a lion's face and half of Ayton's face that he presented to the 27-year-old. Members of the training staff wrap Ayton's water bottle in athletic tape and write "DA's Crunk Juice -- Drink this to unleash the beast" in black marker on it before games.

The task for the Lakers is getting Ayton to care as much for the grind and the role as he does for putting points on the board.

"When he's at his best, and we've seen it, we've seen glimpses of it, he's playing with force," a team source told ESPN. "And that's playing with great force on both ends of the floor when it comes to screening. Then rolling and putting pressure on the rim; [when the] shot goes up, crashing the glass; sprinting back in transition; loading to the basketball; calling out your communication; being in the right positioning; contesting shots; boxing out. Those things for a big are just really thankless when you're a skilled big. But on this team, that's what his role is.

"He has to be a dirt worker."

Of all the dirty work Ayton has been tasked with, he has excelled as a screener. He has set 15.7 on-ball screens per game for Doncic -- the third most among duos to run 200 or more plays together this season, according to ESPN Research. He has also averaged 3.7 screen assists -- a pick that directly leads to a player making a field goal -- this season, the fourth most in the league.

"He does a great job creating contact and knocking defenders off to allow our playmakers to make plays," a team source told ESPN. "And it's something that, frankly, he's been pretty committed to."

Team sources told ESPN that when Ayton brings energy to these duties, the big man earns more minutes and, in turn, gets fed by his teammates more often.

When he doesn't, it's easy to spot the difference.

"He picks and chooses when he wants to lock in and play," the West scout added. "Which is not what most dominant centers do."

AYTON SPENT THE All-Star break in his native Bahamas, rehabbing the right knee soreness that caused him to miss two games.

On his way back to L.A., he was detained at Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau for "a very small amount of marijuana [that] wasn't in Deandre's bag," his lawyer, Devard Francis, told Reuters.

Ayton was quickly released, according to Francis, and sources told ESPN he made it back to L.A. without missing any team activities. The Lakers consider the situation a misunderstanding and have moved forward from it, a source familiar with the organization's thinking said.

In his first practice back with the team, he did everything the coaching staff was looking for.

"He was in pretty good shape," a team source said. "He was spirited. He had good disposition."

It carried over to the Lakers' first game after the break, a 125-122 win over the LA Clippers, when Ayton was responsible for the highlight of the night by sprinting the floor and skying through the air to throw down an alley-oop from James. He closed the game, too. He played 10 out of 12 minutes in the fourth and was the only Lakers starter with a positive plus-minus in the final frame, finishing the game with 13 points, seven rebounds and a block.

"DA was great," Redick said. "Very engaged, and just was able to execute our defensive game plan at a really high level."

But in the Lakers' next game -- a 111-89 loss to the rival Boston Celtics with purple and gold royalty such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and James Worthy in attendance for Pat Riley's statue ceremony -- Ayton finished with as many fouls as points (four) and played just three minutes in the fourth quarter.

This is the Lakers' Ayton conundrum, one the Suns and Blazers experienced and divested from -- engaged and effective one night, disengaged and absent the next.

During the team's film session Monday to review the Boston loss, Redick lauded Ayton for his defensive presence, particularly for his execution when the team switched 1-through-5, but he also highlighted where Ayton's effort was lacking.

"There was a clip," Redick said, "Jaylen Brown goes to the floor. We've got a 5-on-4 and [Ayton] goes at about 20% speed, where it's clearly a man-down situation. So in terms of him running and putting pressure on the rim and offensive rebounding, particularly against switches and smaller players, he could be better there."

Ayton was hardly solely responsible for the loss on a day when James, Doncic and Reaves combined to shoot 22-for-53 (41.5%). And Redick, justifiably, was just trying to get something to click when he tried out different personnel late.

"I have his back," Redick said of Ayton. "These guys, we try to make them understand my job is to help the Lakers try to win basketball games. And so nothing is ever personal."

Now, as the sixth-place Lakers are hitting the most crucial stretch of the season with 25 games to go, Ayton is too.

If the Lakers make a run and Ayton fulfills his role, his gamble to forfeit $10 million of his $35.6 million salary with the Blazers for 2025-26 to become a free agent could pay off with a new, multiyear contract this summer in L.A. or elsewhere. But if they stumble, Ayton's contributions, or lack thereof, will be seen by everyone around the league.

Which makes this a tenuous time. For the Lakers to win, every player will have to play their role. But if the Lakers aren't winning, every player playing for their next contract -- like Ayton -- will naturally feel the pull to play for themselves.

It's what Ayton said he wanted, at his introductory news conference in July. And now that desire will truly be tested.

"It's a platform that I cannot run from," Ayton said. "I can show what I really am ... [There] is a lot of fuel in me to prove to the whole world."

ESPN's Matt Williams contributed to this report.