Deandre Ayton shows why Blazers wanted him after rocky start

As the Portland Trail Blazers play out the string in the 2023-24 NBA season, it’s time to start looking back at how key players performed relative to preseason expectations.

Perhaps no one had more to prove than Blazers center Deandre Ayton.

Last September, the Blazers acquired Ayton in a trade with the Phoenix Suns that sent previous starting center Jusuf Nurkic and forward Nassir Little to the desert.

Ayton, who was the top overall pick in the 2018 Draft, had seen his relationship with the Suns sour and was looking for a fresh start. An opportunity to play with the rebuilding Blazers was a chance for Ayton to no longer have to sacrifice his individual numbers so that guys like Kevin Durant and Devin Booker could get their shots.

Many anticipated Ayton to bounce back in his first season with the Blazers. But he initially struggled in a Portland uniform. It wasn’t for a lack of effectiveness, but Ayton didn’t seem to be getting the expected number of touches in the paint. Through Dec. 17, Ayton averaged 12.5 points on exactly 10 shots a night. He was playing defense and rebounding at a high clip, so Blazers fans couldn’t necessarily be unhappy with his play, but it was easy to watch Ayton play and want more.

Ayton missed some time due to right knee tendinitis from late December to mid-January and, after he rejoined the Blazers, he began looking more like the player that Portland hoped would be unlocked. Portland’s guards began looking for Ayton on back cuts, seemingly connecting on two or three alley-oops per game.

Coach Chauncey Billups talked about the concerted effort the team was making to get Ayton more involved in the Blazers’ offense.

‘You know, I think Ant [Simons], and Malcolm [Brogdon], and Scoot [Henderson] and those guys have made a real effort to make sure to get him the ball in that pocket. Or, he can roll behind the defense and throwing it up for him. Just made a real concerted effort. You know, we’ve got to try and get more out of D.A. And we’ve been doing that. He’s been great for us. Now we’ve got to just make sure we don’t forget about everything else we’ve been doing, you know?

Ayton was starting to show genuine connection with the team’s guards when, in a late February game against the Miami Heat, Ayton collided with Kevin Love and sprained his right hand. After missing five games with the injury, Ayton returned to the Blazers lineup like a man possessed. In his next six games, he put up scoring totals of 30, 22, 33, 31, 20, and 25 points. After scoring eight points against the Los Angeles Clippers on March 20, Ayton has been out with elbow tendinitis.

Deandre Ayton’s future with the Blazers