Los Angeles Lakers center Deandre Ayton seemingly confirmed what many have said about his effort in recent weeks.
Ayton said he had something of an epiphany earlier this week amid a temporarily reduced role and realized he was not fulfilling his role with the Lakers. The center admitted he had been the odd man out in terms of his effort, and accepted that he needs to do the basics to help the team win.
“You can tell LeBron’s been locked in, Luka — everybody’s been completely locked in, and I’m just tired of being the odd man out,” Ayton said, via Dan Woike of The Athletic. “I think I told the media the other day, it’s just me finally catching up. Team’s been there; it’s just been me.”
Ayton admitted that he needed to relearn how to play without being the focal point of an offense.
“I just started looking in the mirror and said ‘Yo bro, … you’re not that guy,” Ayton said. “You don’t need to be on this team doing that at all. This team, you came here to be the effort guy and close out possessions, rebound. Run the damn floor hard as hell, make bigs work, make superstars work.”
The Lakers probably wish Ayton had realized this sooner, but better late than never. He has seen his effort questioned in recent weeks and simply has not seemed to fit with the team. He thinks that himself, and it was apparently a byproduct of not accepting his role.
Ayton’s realization seems to have helped him, at least for the moment. In Monday’s win over Houston, he collected 11 rebounds in 27 minutes and was a +11 when on the floor.
