Oct 24, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers center Deandre Ayton (5) shoots the ball against Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert (27) and forward Jaden McDaniels (3) in the second half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Lakers Hall of Famer Unimpressed With Deandre Ayton, Sends Him Harsh Message

Originally posted on Los Angeles Lakers on SI
By Gabe Smallson | Last updated Oct 27, 2025 2:00 PM ET

The Los Angeles Lakers acquired center Deandre Ayton this past offseason to address a few problems that were exposed after LA traded away Anthony Davis last year. Front-court depth and defense were abysmal, and adding another lob threat was a key area that the team's front office set off to improve upon.

Ayton scored 10 points in his inaugural game with the purple and gold, adding six rebounds, one block, and four turnovers in a 119-109 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.

After his debut, Lakers legend Shaquille O'Neal was extremely unimpressed, and took to National television to air his grievances.

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"Listen Deandre," O'Neal said on a recent Inside the NBA episode on ESPN, "the performance you had yesterday [O'Neal gave a thumbs down to the camera], I need you to step it up my boy. You gotta do three things: you gotta rebound, block shots, and you gotta dominate. The pressure's not on you, you playing with two great players that get doubled a lot. When they make the little bounce pass, catch it, and throw it down.

"You're not getting doubled, you have a small guy guarding you in the post, you turn around and shoot a fadeaway, that's not gonna get it done," he added. "We need you brother, we need you to step it up. That performance you had yesterday was terrible, come on, Deaadre, you gotta step it up."

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During Ayton's next contest, he upped his scoring total to 15, dropped eight rebounds, one block, and finished with a plus-minus of +9. The Lakers got the win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, but the story of the night was superstar Luka Doncic unleashing 49 points.

On Sunday evening against the Sacramento Kings, Ayton shined with 22 points, 15 rebounds, one block, one steal, and did so on 10-of-17 shooting.

Sunday, however, belonged to Austin Reaves. The 27-year-old dropped 51 points on the Kings, taking full control of the moment without Doncic nor LeBron James. The increased production from the Lakers has been promising recently, but the regular season is a marathon.