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Much of the discussion about the Lakers’ upcoming offseason has been about acquiring a center of the future. It was the edict from Luka Dončić before he left for Europe this summer and it’s one of the top priorities of the front office.
The underlying aspect of that is the Lakers very well may still have last year’s starting center on the roster at the start of free agency. Deandre Ayton had a very up-and-down season with the Lakers, at times looking great but also proving not to be a reliable option every night, hence the search for a top starter.
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However, Ayton has a player option for next season, taking the decision out of the Lakers’ hands. While Ayton may know that LA is trying to move on from him, it’s still $8.1 million he’d be guaranteed next season by opting in.
So, while there are merits to him opting out and searching for a team that wants him, it seems more likely he will take that guaranteed money, leaving the Lakers with a bit of a conundrum this summer. On a recent episode of NBA Today, Dave McMenamin of ESPN laid out the scenario for the Lakers and Ayton.
“We don’t know if Deandre Ayton is going to opt in to his deal and if he does, if the feedback is get me an A-list center and Ayton was already on the team last year, if he opts in, that means Rob Pelinka needs to find a trade partner for Ayton.”
While Ayton struggled as the starting center for the Lakers last year, he still was a viable NBA player with value. And at $8 million, he may even be on a contract that is good value relative to his production as well.
It’s just that he’s not a good fit with the Lakers. He’s still, at worst, a valuable backup big man who can play for a contending team. It won’t be hard to trade him, but it’ll likely be a necessity.
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It’s not difficult to find a way to spin this into a positive. He’s on a non-negative contract and the Lakers could potentially take back more in salary than they send out. If LA can find the right team and right situation, they could acquire a player who better fits around Luka and Austin Reaves.
But it does look like, for all intents…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/lakers-look-trade-deandre-ayton-193512074.html
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Publish date : 2026-06-27 19:35:00
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