During a wide-ranging interview with Dan Woike of The Athletic, Deandre Ayton spoke about his role with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Ayton told Woike that he’s “110 percent” bought in with the Lakers after looking in the mirror.
“And I’ve completely … I bought in. Completely, like 110 percent. I hope you see the work,” Ayton said. “When it comes to scoring, we don’t need that. We need you to put that energy what you have for offense and into defense.
“I just started looking in the mirror and said ‘Yo bro, … you’re not that guy. 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. And I’m having fun with it, I’m not gonna lie.”
The Lakers are in third place in the Western Conference standings. Ayton is averaging 12.5 points and 8.4 rebounds per game on the season while shooting 66.7% from the field. He’s fourth on the team in scoring behind Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves and LeBron James.
“JJ’s been instilling to us that this is a playoff atmosphere, and we fighting for a playoff position,” Ayton said. “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. 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.”
The Lakers have 14 games left in the regular season. Ayton, who signed with Los Angeles last offseason after getting bought out by the Portland Trail Blazers, is having fun again after being in a rough patch a few weeks ago.
“I was energized, and I was having fun,” Ayton said. “So I really like that the team is trusting me, man. I just don’t want to lose the trust, bro. That’s really what’s getting my juices going and me biting my fingernails waiting to get back in the damn game for real. Just getting back to having fun — I’m not gonna lie.”
