Having Deandre Ayton on the Los Angeles Lakers proved to be the rollercoaster that most could have anticipated during the regular season. Cautious optimism, an encouraging start, midseason frustration, plus more ups and downs as the campaign marched on — 2025-26 had it all.
As things stand, Ayton has an $8.1 million player option for the upcoming 2026-27 season. If you ask most Lakers fans, the popular opinion right now would be a general hope of him declining the option and entering free agency. Either that or Rob Pelinka ships him out elsewhere after it gets picked up.
While one playoff run will not completely redefine what this year has been for Ayton, it does offer opportunity to pardon him a great deal. The Lakers are significantly undermanned for their first-round series against the Houston Rockets. They will need their starting center to play some of his best basketball.
Ayton, quietly, has more playoff experience than most members of the Lakers roster. The former Phoenix Suns center had a solid playoff run in 2020-21, when the team that drafted him came within two wins of hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy. That version of him could secure a longer stay in LA.
Deandre Ayton needs a dominant playoff run to secure his Lakers future
The Lakers will have cap space and avenues to explore for improving the center position. There are a couple of attractive restricted free agents in Jalen Duren and Walker Kessler. There will also be unrestricted options like Isaiah Hartenstein who are worth a look.
Ayton controls his own future, to a certain degree, with that player option. However, one would imagine no stone left unturned in the quest to improve the roster around Luka Doncic for next season.
The wild unpredictability of their current starter does not lend itself well for a long-term stay. However, if that season-long unknown is met with playoff dependability, it suddenly becomes a different story.
For their part, the Lakers would still be wise to avoid any serious financial commitments to Ayton regardless of the postseason production. This was the same player who said he had nothing left to prove after earning a max contract earlier in his career.
This playoff run calls for Ayton to produce at a higher quantity until Doncic and Austin Reaves are back. The Lakers will not even get far enough to see those returns without their big man in the middle performing like the double-double guy he was with the Suns.
If Ayton plays his part in extending the playoff run for the Lakers, Pelinka would have reason to consider granting him another season in Los Angeles, should no better options truly present themselves. It would not be the ideal reality for Lakers fans to envision, but it is not off the table just yet.
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