Sunday night featured an important return to form for Deandre Ayton in the Los Angeles Lakers' competitive 120-114 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. The catalyst of that strong performance? Getting the ball more.
Ayton put up 15 points, shooting 6-of-8 from the field, eight rebounds, and one block in the win. This comes after JJ Redick openly discussed the 'human nature' element of the lacking effort in his starting center's game.
“I think he’s frustrated. He doesn’t feel like he’s getting the ball," Redick told Dave McMenamin and other reporters. "There's some stuff I think we had to clean up ... for him to just be more available. ... It's on everybody."
So far, so good for Redick. They set Ayton up, and the big man responded accordingly. As forgiving as the Lakers coach was of the situation, it does create concerns, in the grand scheme of this season, moving forward.
Lakers need Deandre Ayton to remain mentally checked-in
"Bigs can't feed themselves," Ayton said after the win. "I just try my best to do what I can to bring effort and I trust my playmakers out there to find me."
The problem for the Lakers is they need that effort consistently, regardless of how much Ayton is being fed offensively. Los Angeles already has a considerable load of imperfect circumstances to navigate without factoring in lapses from their center.
Is it completely on Ayton? To Redick's point, not entirely. The Lakers center is not faultless, but the team can certainly do what they can to limit the problem. So, how does Los Angeles continue to get the most out of their guy?
Eight is the magic number — in more ways than one.
Ayton is averaging 8.4 rebounds per game during the 2025-26 season. Keeping him around that range at the very least is what the Lakers need.
How do they keep engagement levels high? Guaranteeing at least eight shots a game has usually done the trick.
When Ayton gets eight field goal attempts or more this season, the former first overall pick only has two performances of less than eight rebounds on the glass. That is out of a possible 21 games. The success of that ratio is more than reliable.
Granted, this is also about the quality of those shots. Ayton did have eight attempts against the Detroit Pistons on Dec. 30 and gave the Lakers two rebounds in return.
Why highlight rebounds specifically? For one, the Lakers need them. Los Angeles already ranks towards the bottom of the league in rebounds per game (41.1), and they can't afford to get much worse.
The second reason being that rebounds are an effort stat. For Ayton, they are a pretty good indicator of how locked in the starting center is.
Knowing your personnel, and how to get the most out of them, is a big part of basketball. For the Lakers, Ayton is at his best this way. They would be wise to do their part.