Sunday night was easily one of Deandre Ayton's best performances of the 2025-26 NBA season. Luka Doncic sure sounded like a teammate who wanted to see more of these types of games from the Los Angeles Lakers starting center.
"Very good," Doncic said of Ayton's outing against the Toronto Raptors. "When he plays like this, focused on both ends, it helps us a lot. It helps us win games and that's what we need from him."
Ayton posted 25 points, shooting a perfect 10-of-10 from the field, 13 rebounds, and one block in the decisive 110-93 win over the Raptors. The Lakers center finished the night as a +20, while also registering his second highest game score of the entire season with 26.5. Only his Nov. 30 matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans (26.8) marginally tops that figure.
It's unrealistic to expect Ayton to deliver a 20-point double-double every night. That exceeds what the former first overall pick has proven capable of. However, there is a pivotal piece of what Doncic was saying which should resonate. Effort and focus on both ends — that is what the Lakers need every night.
Deandre Ayton must absorb Luka Doncic's plea for focus
Conversations about Ayton's effort have entered the fold in Los Angeles. For anyone who is familiar with the career history of the divisive center, they understand just how troublesome that is.
The Lakers need the best-case scenario of what the Ayton experiment could look like in Los Angeles. The team has already hit a slumping stretch midway through the regular season and it would only get worse if their starting center fails to be mostly reliable moving forward.
If absolutely necessary, the Lakers do have the means available to them to pull the plug on the union before the Feb. 5 trade deadline. However, that would mean sacrificing future flexibility in the process. In an ideal set of circumstances, that is something they would definitely want to avoid.
On the surface, Ayton has averaged 14.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 1.0 block per game for the Lakers this season, shooting a career-high 68.9 percent from the field. Those numbers look fine.
However, this recent rough patch has featured Ayton's questionable motor looking ugly. It has involved Jaxson Hayes pushing him out of games during the fourth quarter due to the latter being far more reliable in terms of effort. It really is as bad as it sounds. That is not a slight at Hayes either.
This is Ayton's prove-it year in the NBA. For the 7-footer, it needs to be obvious to any future suitor — Lakers or otherwise — that when it is time to hand him a new contract, his issues of the past are gone. Right now, that much remains unclear.