Former No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton is in his first season with the Los Angeles Lakers. Ayton is having a pretty solid campaign, but there seems to be room for improvement, according to his teammate Marcus Smart.
Speaking to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin after the Lakers’ tough loss to the Orlando Magic on Tuesday, Smart discussed Ayton’s performance this season.
“I think he’s done OK,” Smart said. “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.”
Ayton had a pretty good night against the Magic, finishing with 21 points and 13 rebounds. It was his first double-double since January 30, when he dropped 28 points and 13 rebounds against the Washington Wizards.
Ayton’s Performances This Season
In 49 games this season, Deandre Ayton is averaging 13.2 points and 8.5 rebounds on just 9.0 field goal attempts per game. Those are all career lows for the Arizona standout, though he seems to have a big impact on the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers are 16-3 this season if Ayton gets at least 10 shot attempts, which means coach JJ Redick might need to continue giving him touches. It’s something that Ayton mentioned earlier this season, which made headlines. He’s also second in the league in field goal percentage at 66.7%.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin opined that Ayton’s touches are going to be limited, especially if Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves are all on the floor.
However, Evan Sidery pointed out that Doncic and Reaves play better without James on the floor based on their net rating. The Doncic-Reaves pairing has a +4.6 net rating, while the James-Reaves duo is at a -5.3. The James-Doncic pair is worse at -5.7.
While it doesn’t look great, the trio has not had the time to play together more due to injuries. James dealt with sciatica to start the season, Reaves had a calf injury before and after Christmas, and Doncic has had his muscle-related injuries here and there.
Team Source Explains Ayton’s Role
In the same interview with Dave McMenamin, an anonymous Lakers source revealed what Deandre Ayton’s role is with the team.
“When he’s at his best, and we’ve seen it, we’ve seen glimpses of it, he’s playing with force,” the source said.
The source added that Ayton has to do all the dirty work to help the Lakers succeed. He has to show it on both ends of the ball, from screening to rolling to defending to rebounding to running the floor.
Ayton needs to be consistent, though the source praised him for setting really good screens to create openings on offense. That’s something that is needed when you have three ball-dominant players on the floor.
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