Ayton

Deandre Ayton spent the last two years fading away from the national spotlight on a team that was closer to getting the first overall pick than getting to the first round of the playoffs. On Monday, the 7-foot center stood in front of flashing lights, answered questions in a packed news conference and glanced up at a shiny line of 17 championship trophies.

Ayton, whose inconsistent career hit a new low in Portland, where he was bought out of his contract and criticized for a poor work ethic, smiled at what he called “the biggest stage.” The former No. 1 overall pick is ready to launch his revenge tour with the Lakers.

“It’s the biggest opportunity, I can say, of my career,” Ayton said Monday at Lakers media day. “Some people say it’s my last leg, some people say it’s my last chance. Well, it’s the opportunity I can say I’m truly not going to take for granted.”

Marcus Smart knows the feeling. The 2022 defensive player of the year is coming off a contract buyout in Washington. After nine years and three all-defensive team honors with the Boston Celtics, Smart has played in just 54 games over two injury-plagued years with Memphis and Washington. The 31-year-old recognizes some may have forgotten the “Celtics’ Marcus Smart” — the player who guarded all five positions, knocked down timely threes and brought contagious, tone-setting toughness.

The Lakers still remember.

“I know what he brings to the game,” LeBron James said. “I know that team is first, second, third, fourth, fifth, when it comes to Marcus Smart.”

Despite his resume and standing in the league, Smart doesn’t expect automatic entry to the Lakers’ starting lineup.

“Whether I start or come off the bench,” Smart said, “my presence will be made.”

Lakers guard Marcus Smart takes part in media day at UCLA Health Training Center on Monday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Smart’s defensive prowess could be a significant boost to a starting group that figures to include James, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. Rui Hachimura, who started in 57 of his 59 regular-season appearances last season, is in the final year of his contract after averaging 13.1 points and five rebounds per game last season.

Facing the possibility of coming off the bench ahead of a contract year, Hachimura said he would defer to coaches to decide what was best. Coach JJ Redick said the team has seven or eight starting-caliber players, and the starting lineup doesn’t weigh heavily on his mind entering his second season at the helm.

But Ayton’s starting position feels solidified.

The center was the Lakers’ most significant offseason addition after the blockbuster trade that brought Doncic to L.A. also left the team without a starting center. Jaxson Hayes, who was thrust into the starting role out of necessity but fell out of the rotation during the playoffs, will be a valuable one-two punch with Ayton at center, James said. Forward Maxi Kleber, who played only five minutes after joining the team during the midseason trade with Dallas, said he is fully healthy after a lengthy foot injury.

Kleber, 33, knows firsthand the impact Doncic can have on a post player’s career. Kleber has played with Doncic since the Slovenian superstar was drafted in 2018 and marveled at Doncic’s ability to get easy shots for his teammates. Lob chances will start falling from the sky like never before for Ayton.

After practicing together in the offseason, Kleber commended Ayton for getting stronger and adding to his physical presence on the court. Redick has challenged the entire roster to arrive in “championship shape.”

Ayton didn’t need the additional motivation.

“You guys have an Angry Ayton,” the 27-year-old said, “where I’ve been disrespected most of my career and just been doubted. And I’m here where all [that is] behind me and I can add all that fuel into winning and playing alongside Luka.”

Doncic, out for his own redemption after last year’s trade and conversations about his weight and work ethic, was eager to begin his first training camp with the Lakers. Coming off a quarterfinals appearance at EuroBasket with the Slovenian national team, Doncic said he felt stronger and quicker on the court after his offseason physical transformation. One of the league’s pick-and-roll savants, Doncic should help Ayton rediscover the dominance he flashed while helping the Phoenix Suns reach the NBA Finals in 2021 and post a franchise-record 64 wins in 2022.

Finally back in the NBA spotlight with a new team, Ayton relishes the chance to chase more meaningful records.

“You can feel the pressure through the door,” Ayton said. “This team wants to win a championship.”

“I can definitely do that.”

Tiah-Mai Ayton, 19, has set her sights on becoming the youngest ever undisputed champion in the four-belt era across both genders in boxing.

America’s Gabriela Fundora was just 22 when she held all the world titles in the flyweight division in November 2024.

Ayton clearly isn’t shy when laying out her ambitions, but why should she? In over 300 fights across Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, kickboxing, jiu-jitsu and boxing, just three of those have been defeats – which she later avenged.

She will contest her second professional boxing bout against Lydie Bialic on Saturday.

When the Bristol fighter was told about Fundora’s achievement, her eyes lit up: “I could do that. I can definitely do that.

“That’s going to be a new challenge for me. I’ve got a long time.”

Ayton is right. She does have a long time, but women’s boxing also moves fast – just look at compatriot Nina Hughes.

She won a world title in just her fifth fight as a professional.

Not only is Ayton setting her sights on records, but she’s got her eyes on gold and plenty of it.

“I want to be undisputed in bantamweight and super-bantamweight and then it goes featherweight and super-featherweight,” said Ayton.

“I want to do those four categories, and I want to be undisputed in all four. It’s high expectations but I think I can do it.”

Only one boxer, Claressa Shields, has won all four world titles in three different weights, no one yet has managed it in four.

The likes of Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano have paved the way for women boxers to earn millions of pounds but Ayton isn’t getting carried away despite her youth.

When asked what she would purchase with her first healthy fight purse, the teenager opted against a flash car.

“I want a farm. I want cows, sheep, goats and chickens. That’s my dream,” Ayton said.

“I’ll just live a quiet life on my farm and then when I train, I’ll go into camp, and then go back and be peaceful.”

The Lakers found their next starting center, and they didn’t have to give up Austin Reaves to land him.

There’s a reason why.

As athletic and skilled as Deandre Ayton is for a 7-footer, he’s better known at this stage of his career for his shortcomings.

His maddening inconsistency. His uninspired defense. His lack of motivation. His inability to stay healthy.

Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton shoots under pressure from Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic on Feb. 10 in Denver.

(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)

If you didn’t like Anthony Davis, you’re going to hate Ayton. Davis was always accountable or at very least not tone deaf, which Ayton apparently is.

“I got nothing to prove in this league,” Ayton once told veteran NBA reporter Mark Medina. “I’m a max player, and I’ll continue to be a max player.”

Little wonder the Portland Trail Blazers officially gave up on Ayton during the weekend by buying out his contract, opening the door for the Lakers to pick him up at a bargain price.

The Lakers are wagering they can do what the Trail Blazers, and the Phoenix Suns before them, couldn’t.

They are betting they can start the engine inside of Ayton and keep it roaring.

From a physical and technical standpoint, Ayton is capable of being the player the Lakers need him to be. However, most athletes who don’t already have something burning inside of them at 26 don’t suddenly discover fire at 27, which is how old Ayton will be later this month.

Which is why the Lakers should be grateful they still have LeBron James.

Who better to show a chronic underachiever how to maximize his gifts than a player preparing for a record 23rd season? Conversely, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer can’t inspire Ayton, who or what will?

The 40-year-old James will give the Lakers a chance to reach Ayton, which, in turn, will give them a chance to contend for another championship.

With their current roster, the Lakers clearly remain behind the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Lakers belong with the next tier of Western Conference teams, alongside the Golden State Warriors and Clippers. That’s more or less where they were last season.

The Lakers are still looking for shooters. They still have to figure out how they’re going to stop anyone. They also need Ayton to be more than the player he was in his first seven NBA seasons, even with his respectable career averages of 16.4 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.

James will lead by example. He will model the work habits required to be a consistent performer. He will display an attention to detail that will make Ayton recalibrate how he thinks of the game.

Reaves has benefited from his proximity to James. So has Rui Hachimura. Then again, Reaves and Hachimura were open to such guidance. Is Ayton?

Rewiring Ayton’s 27-year-old brain might feel like a longshot, but consider this: Ayton was at his best when he played alongside a strong veteran presence.

Ayton was a third-year player on the Suns when they acquired a 35-year-old Chris Paul before the 2020-21 season. With Ayton playing a starring role, the Suns went on to reach the NBA finals, where they lost to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Phoenix Suns guard Chris Paul, center, talks with center Deandre Ayton, left, during a playoff game against the Clippers in April 2023.

(Matt York / Associated Press)

The postseason run offered an example of how Ayton could respond positively to experienced leadership, as well as how he could be best deployed on the court.

The mobile Ayton was a dangerous threat for Paul, and he should be a dangerous lob threat for Luka Doncic. The ability of Ayton to knock down midrange jumpers spaced the floor for the Suns, and that skill will undoubtedly be exploited by coach JJ Redick.

The X’s and O’s won’t matter if Ayton doesn’t show up to play every night, however. Ayton presumably agreed to the buyout of his contract because he wanted to change the narrative of his career. This is his chance. He will have a playmaker in Doncic, a team with championship aspirations in the Lakers. Perhaps most important, he will have a teacher in James.