When news broke that DeAndre Ayton was signing with the Los Angeles Lakers, it elicited a range of reactions from around the Association.
Some were excited to see the Lakers land a legitimate center, one with No. 1 overall pick pedigree no less, after watching the team get brutalized in the paint by the supersized Minnesota Timberwolves in the playoffs. And others? Well, they questioned if Ayton really had the drive, desire, or fortitude to become the player the Phoenix Suns envisioned when they drafted him first overall in 2018 over players like Luka Doncic and Trae Young.
While it makes sense that some fans would be hesitant about going all in on Ayton fandom before he even took the court in a purple and yellow jersey, especially after Jason Quick highlighted his unpopularity within the Portland organization for The Athletic, to his credit, the Bahamian center had his head in the right place during his introductory press conference with reporters.
“We want to win a championship right now,” Ayton declared via ESPN's Dave McMenamin.
Now granted, can pretty much anyone make such a declaration in July, when games are still months away and there's a long enough runway to spin a narrative before the live bullets start to fly? Most certainly; very few free agents have anything bad to say about their new teams, and Ayton didn't buck that trend upon his arrival in LA.
Still, there are reasons to believe that maybe Ayton really is dedicated to defining this next chapter of his NBA career himself, as he reportedly asked for a buyout from the Trail Blazers in order to stake his claim on a contender instead of spending another year on a losing team with a big man logjam.
Will Ayton be the missing piece in the Lakers' frontcourt? Will he be able to set screens for Austin Reaves, space the floor for LeBron James, and slam down alley-oops for Luka Doncic as a lunchpail player willing to do the dirty work? Only time will tell, but right now, he's certainly saying all the right things for fans to get excited about the fall, which is the first box he needed to check in that pursuit.
Deandre Ayton on joining the Lakers:
“We want to win a championship right now” pic.twitter.com/mIvGU0gdKe
— SleeperHoops (@Sleeper_Hoops) July 8, 2025