Charles Barkley says LA Lakers ‘key’ has problem if he can’t play well with LeBron James and Luka Doncic

Charles Barkley says if Deandre Ayton can’t play well with Luka Doncic and LeBron James, ‘he can’t play’

One of the Lakers’ biggest additions this summer was bringing in Deandre Ayton.

Deandre Ayton will have a major role for the Lakers as the team’s starting center.

Charles Barkley talked about Ayton going into this season and said he needs to play well, especially on defense.

Barkley noted that if he doesn’t, he won’t be playable.

“The key is going to be Deandre Ayton. He’s got to play well because he’s going to be a free agent. He ran his way out of Phoenix and Portland because he wasn’t happy.

“He’s got to play well. If he can’t play well with Luka and LeBron, he can’t play.

“It’s a great situation but he’s gonna have to play at a high level, he’s going to have to play great defense behind those guys. LeBron’s not a great defender and Luka’s never been a great defender.”

Charles Barkley says he had no problem with LeBron James sitting out the preseason, ‘they just got to stay healthy for the playoffs’

Before the announcement that James would be out 3-4 weeks with sciatica, he was being cautious and sat out the Lakers’ preseason games.

Barkley talked about this before James’ injury news and said that he didn’t have a problem with James sitting out of the preseason because the goal is to be healthy for the playoffs.

“I have no problem with a guy that old sitting out. LeBron has paid his dues. The Lakers, they just got to stay healthy for the playoffs.

“It doesn’t matter what they accomplish during the regular season or anything like that.

“LeBron at his age you got to hope he can stay healthy, it’s a real long season.

“It’s no big deal, but the Lakers, they gonna be interesting, we don’t know what’s going to happen but it’s going to be fun watching.

“What is he going to accomplish playing 20 minutes in a preseason, half the guys he plays against they aren’t going to be in the league in a week and a half.”

The Lakers being without James for potentially the first month of their season will be a big obstacle to overcome.

But for as bad as things look, it could be worse. The Lakers know that they need a healthy LeBron for the playoffs to have a chance for the title, so perhaps this happening now instead of later is a blessing in disguise.