In his first year with the Portland Trail Blazers, center Deandre Ayton has mightily regressed from his peak days with the Phoenix Suns.
After wearing out his welcome with Phoenix, the 25-year-old was flipped to Portland this offseason as part of the three-team blockbuster deal with the Suns and Milwaukee Bucks that sent-ex-All-NBA Blazers point guard Damian Lillard to Milwaukee, former Bucks wing Grayson Allen and ex-Portland center Jusuf Nurkic to Phoenix, ex-All-Star Milwaukee point guard Jrue Holiday to Portland (before he was later rerouted to the Boston Celtics) and landed Ayton in Rip City.
Fans and pundits expected Ayton's numbers on a rebuilding team to increase mightily, perhaps to All-Star levels, in 2023-24. Instead, they took a dip. He's averaging a career-low 13.8 points on 56% shooting from the field, plus 10.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.8 blocks per.
Beyond his on-court numbers, on a lottery-bound 15-39 squad, Ayton has apparently been something of a malcontent.
Jason Quick of The Athletic writes that Ayton was often late to team events and frequently threw temper tantrums during his first few months with the franchise.
Casey Hodahl of Blazers.com writes that the seven-foot big man seems to be refreshed, after a knee injury forced him to sit out for 12 games between December and January.
He's especially turned it on of late, improving to a more robust, Suns-esque offensive output.
Across his past ten contests, Ayton is averaging 17.8 points while shooting 62% from the floor, pulling down 11 boards a night, dishing out a pair of dimes and blocking 1.4 shots.
“I’ve been having a lot of fun since I got here, just playing freely, listening to the coaches, playing with guys my age, younger guys than me,” Ayton said this week. “Just having that dominant feeling of just knowing that my team is depending on me on both ends of the floor, just knowing that I have to show up on every possession.”
“I’ve been trying to humble myself a little bit and just accept the challenge, have some humility when it comes to failure,” he added. “Not try to rush anything. We’re a young team but we’re an exciting team as well. We just can’t skip no steps and we have to go through these growing pains a little bit where we’re just trying to know each other, really.”
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