Shaquille O’Neal Explains What Deandre Ayton Lacks

The Lakers have gotten off to a superb start to the season, especially considering they’ve yet to get a minute from LeBron James. Entering last night’s game against the Thunder, L.A. was 8-3 and feeling good. Luka Doncic was putting up MVP numbers, and if he ever needed to sit, Austin Reaves could do an uncanny impersonation.

New center Deandre Ayton had been doing just what the Lakers signed him to do — score efficiently in the paint and rebound, with averages of just under 16 and 8. Of course, that was against the rest of the league, though. As Ayton and the Lakers quickly found out, the Thunder are an Avengers-level threat.

OKC hung 70 points on the Lakers in the first half alone last night on their way to a 32-point lead. As you can imagine, the Inside the NBA guys were ready during the break to let them have it.

“That’s what we call belt to a-- in the streets,” Shaquille O’Neal said. It would only get worse, as the Thunder pushed the lead up to 37 at one point in the third quarter. Reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t even have to play in the fourth as the Thunder ran their record to 12-1 and a perfect 6-0 at home.

Not much worked for the Lakers against OKC’s relentless and deep lineup. Luka and Reaves combined for more turnovers than made shots in the first half, and they finished the game a combined 11-32 from the floor. Meanwhile, Ayton was all but invisible as he finished with 6 points, 5 rebounds and 4 turnovers of his own.

Shaq and Charles Barkley really went at Ayton at halftime. Shaq, the self-proclaimed “President of the Big Man Alliance” showed a clip of Ayton jogging down the court in the first half and not working hard to control the paint. “That should have been a layup,” Barkley said as Ayton got to his spot late and failed to get position.

Chuck then pointed out that Ayton was the one major offseason addition to this team, but games like this are why he doesn’t think the Lakers will go any further than they did last year when the Wolves easily knocked them out of the first round of the playoffs.

“I ain’t worried about Luka, I ain’t worried about Austin Reaves, I ain’t worried about LeBron,” he said. “That guy right there is the only difference to this team. We’ve seen that Laker team, how far they can go. They’re a playoff team, gonna lose the first round. The only addition they made was Deandre Ayton. He’s the only guy can take them to another round of the playoffs.”

Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith pushed back on Barkley a bit since they haven’t seen what the team will look like once LeBron is on the court, but he was adamant. “Ayton has not showed me anything to think they’re gonna win a round of the playoffs,” he said.

Barkley and Shaq are right that the Lakers need more out of Ayton to compete with the best teams, but they also need to keep in mind that this Thunder team might just be historically good. The Lakers aren’t the first team they’ve blown out, and they certainly won’t be the last. If Ayton puts up his fifth double-double of the season against the Pelicans on Friday, this game will quickly fade from memory.