Lakers' splash signing comes with major red flags

Ayton landed a two-year deal worth $16.6M after giving back $10M of his $35.6M salary for 2025-26 from the Portland Trail Blazers to become a free agent. He certainly fills a need for the Lakers, but the team should temper their expectations, given how his two-year tenure in Portland went.

According to a report by Jason Quick of The Athletic, Ayton was "unreliable on and off the court" and was "sometimes benched due to effort, leading to sideline and locker room tantrums." Ayton played only 95 of a possible 164 games with the Blazers, but he often blew off the rehabilitation sessions to help him recover from injuries.

In his first season in Portland, Ayton missed one game, allegedly because there was too much ice around his house. He was suspended for the first 25 games of the 2019-20 season for taking a banned diuretic. And in 2022, ESPN published a troubling story about how the then-Phoenix Suns big man played the video game NBA 2K for "at least four of five hours" every day.

Despite drafting him at No. 1 in the 2018 draft, ahead of stars like Trae Young, Jaren Jackson and Ayton's new teammate Luka Doncic, the Suns were hesitant to give Ayton a rookie max extension, even after they reached the NBA Finals in 2021. He had to get an offer sheet from the Indiana Pacers, which the Suns matched, then unloaded Ayton at the first chance they could.

The Blazers acquired Ayton in the blockbuster trade that sent Damian Lillard to Milwaukee, but they soured on him enough they drafted centers in the first round of the last two drafts. Now they're paying him nearly $26M not to play for them.

He's certainly better than the Lakers' other options in the middle, but after the last few seasons, it's fair to question how committed Ayton is to basketball. At least the basketball that isn't played with a controller and a PlayStation.