Thursday night, the Los Angeles Lakers were punked by the Oklahoma City Thunder, being blown out by 43 points and getting laughed off the court. Many fans are wondering what a loss like this means for the Lakers long-term, while others fear Luka Doncic could miss an extended period of time after exiting with a hamstring injury.
These two storylines have overshadowed what may be the biggest issue in this loss: the effort and play of Deandre Ayton.
During the Lakers' magical March run, they went 15-2 and really started to unveil a championship-caliber team. Ayton was a huge piece in that. He started taking accountability, buying into his role, and it was really paying off for a Lakers team that struggled with poor center play all season.
All of that went out the window. Ayton was out-hustled, out-muscled, and dominated on the glass throughout his entire 26 minutes of action.
Deandre Ayton's effort wasn't championship-level for the Lakers
Many fans could've predicted that, given the Thunder's double-big lineup of Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren, Ayton was likely to struggle on the boards. But the real problem is that those two weren't even the ones dominating the glass.
It was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams doing that. A duo mostly known for shouldering OKC's scoring load on most nights pulled in 16 rebounds on top of the 10 that Holmgren and Hartenstein had.
We saw Ayton is more than capable of winning those rebounding battles in the game before this one against the Cleveland Cavaliers, so him pulling in one board against OKC just comes down to effort.
Ayton was a real playoff riser for the Phoenix Suns during their 2021 run to the NBA finals. Many believed he was leveling up at this point in the season, not taking a step back.
There was never an expectation that DA would turn into the near 20-point double-double machine he was for the Suns during that run, but all he needed to do was continue to stack good games. From the opening tip, he played like he didn't want to be there, and come the playoffs, that kind of effort could sink this Lakers team.
Obviously, Ayton isn't the only reason the Lakers gave up 13 offensive boards, as their second-string center, Jaxson Hayes, also had just one rebound. At the same time, when he puts up eight points on seven shots and is the starting center on a team with championship aspirations, that type of performance is going to be scrutinized.
Maybe this game was a wake-up call for Ayton, but with how inconsistent his effort and play have been all year, it may be hard for fans to convince themselves of that.