I also want to push back on this idea that he is some great talent that just has problems between the ears. Sure he's got nice touch around the rim. But if you look back at his time in Phoenix, I think he's lost a good bit of athleticism. Not nearly as explosive. He looks like he'd be fairly strong but never plays like it. I don't know that his defensive instincts and timing were ever great, I think he just used to be a better athlete. I kind of like the Dwight comparison because I don't think he's this terrible malcontent in the locker room like a Cousins. I think its more so that he's just...annoying.
Why the Lakers' success depends on Deandre Ayton -- and vice versa - ESPN Don't think "DA's Crunk Juice -- Drink this to unleash the beast" is working guys!
he's exactly who most of us expected him to be. lazy, unmotivated, zero drive i never thought i'd see a big man who couldn't find chemistry with luka, but here we are. it's quite remarkable
it's becoming an interesting question. i'm actually thinking he'll opt in at this point. it's not a tremendous issue if he opts in (i think he'll just be traded), but it might be easier if he didn't, considering we'll be looking for another center in any case.
All they need to do is tell him he won’t be getting more than 10 minutes a game if he returns- that will make him leave.
i'm not sure. he's probably watched what happened to dlo after he left here and knows that nobody is going to sign him anyway. quite possible he opts in and tries to force a buyout. there may be a situation where he takes a buyout that cuts his salary and then we stretch-waive it to open up space. in this case, his salary is 8 million. if he'll accept 3 off (which he'll get--someone will give him a vet min at least), we can stretch the remaining 5 over 3 years. this would open up about 6 million in space, which equals one laravia.
No one will want to sign him IMO but I’m also not entirely sure we can trade him since we have had difficulty moving other expiring deals. We will see. I expect him back with us next year but hopefully coming off the bench.
i think once we've made our FA moves, we'll probably be open to taking on longer-term salary, which might make some move in which say, ayton and vando are packaged for a player who's better but overpaid over a longer period of time or something like that. i don't think we're going to let contract length hem us in after this summer. but maybe i'm wrong.
hayes has outplayed ayton all year. i just think it's like with dlo and you risk losing him entirely, instead of just 70%.
Before he opts in, I'm informing him he's playing backup next season. If he doesn't want that, he can move on. I think he be better served coming off the bench in a limited role, IMO.
