Deandre Ayton Taking Pride In Being Lakers’ Starting Center & Anchor Of Defense

Deandre Ayton got to play in front of the Crypto.com Arena crowd as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time on Sunday night and flashed what he was capable of.

In the Lakers’ 126-116 win over the Golden State Warriors, Ayton played 26 minutes and finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block on 6-of-8 shooting.

If the Lakers are gonna have success this season then they will need some production out of the center position on both ends of the floor, and providing that is something Ayton takes pride it, via Spectrum SportsNet:

“Just really changing the narrative of protecting the rim on the defensive end. JJ has really put an emphasis that he wants his bigs protecting the rim so I’m just trying to be a big part of that. Let the world know and the league know that I’m the Lakers center and I’m the anchor of the defense.”

Ayton previously played for the Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers, so he is used to hearing boos when playing at Crypto.com Arena. He enjoyed being on the receiving end of cheers this time around though:

“Most definitely, I wanted to come home and feel the fans and feel that energy. So today was a good little warmup. I know it’s not an official game. But they definitely showed some love to me and I enjoyed it. I played hard today, got a good sweat in and we got the dub.”

Ayton came to the Lakers with the right mentality, putting the team first and wanting to prove his value on the court. He hasn’t even played with Luka Doncic and LeBron James, but the 27-year-old is showing his potential so far this preseason and if things continue to trend this way, he could be in for a huge year.

JJ Redick breaks down Deandre Ayton’s role with Lakers

Deandre Ayton has been filling his role perfectly this preseason and Lakers head coach JJ Redick recently broke down what exactly he wants from his starting center.

“I think it’s important for him to touch the basketball because we’re going to ask a lot of him as a screener and a rim runner and the anchor of our defense so there has to be some level of freedom. We’ve had four practices, we haven’t talked about shot selection or what we’re trying to get. It’s hard when your two best players are not on the floor. AR of course didn’t play the other night. I think as we get through the next, I guess it’s 15 days now before we play our first game, everybody’s roles and responsibilities will be clearly defined. I think for all our bigs their ability to put pressure on the rim as a runner and as a lob threat is really important. And with Deandre he gives us something that we didn’t have last year post-trade which is if teams do go to reds –switches– he historically, and we’ve seen it in practice, he historically has been great at punishing smaller defenders at the front of the rim.”