Lakers reporter perfectly exposes just how out of touch Deandre Ayton really is

Deandre Ayton is shooting the fewest field goal attempts per game of his NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2025-26. Amid the conversations surrounding the starting center on Thursday, it is clear that fact is becoming a problem for the former first overall pick.

When stacking him up against his peers, it really is not as bad as a career-low screams. At the end of the day, you have to be realistic about the job you sign up for. Ayton inked a deal to be a role player around the Lakers' stars. This was never a big four superteam scenario.

Trevor Lane compared Ayton to some of his peers in similar situations. Players like Ivica Zubac, Jarrett Allen, Nikola Vucevic, Rudy Gobert, Mark Williams, Isaiah Hartenstein, and others were all in a comparable ballpark to the Lakers center. The Lakers reporter argued the situation was pretty par for the course, even if Los Angeles could benefit from moving the ball a bit more offensively.

To that point, Lane is absolutely correct. Conversations about touches, roles, etc. were exactly the type of stuff the Lakers were hoping would have been left behind in Portland. Alas, those issues have firmly followed Ayton to Los Angeles.

Deandre Ayton wrongly can't accept changing who he is for the Lakers

Everyone has seen the viral quote by now from Dave McMenamin's article on ESPN. Ayton was accusing the Lakers of trying to turn him into someone he is not.

"They're trying to make me Clint Capela," Ayton proclaimed on his way to the postgame showers after the Lakers' loss to the Orlando Magic. "I'm not no Clint Capela!"

Well then, who are you?

DominAyton has never lived up to the hype of that sweet nickname. The Portland Trail Blazers even paid to get that guy off their team.

Is this an identity crisis?

Ayton showed up in Los Angeles and took a job that asked him to evolve as an NBA pro. In the early goings of the process, the Lakers center sounded willing to do just that. Suddenly, that may not be the case anymore.

Ayton talked about wanting to be a difference-maker on defense earlier in the year. Spoiler: that stopped being the case pretty quickly. Low motor, inconsistency, etc. etc. — everyone knows the story.

Still, those are the things that were asked of Ayton. Lakers Nation's Daniel Starkand even dug up a quote straight from the man himself in wake of today's messy conversation.

“I wanted to show the team I’m more committed on the defensive end than the offensive end," Ayton said after the Lakers' first preseason game. "... I’m not really here for numbers. I’m just here for whatever the Lakers want me to do."

If what Ayton said back then was really the case, what's the issue with being Capela? The Houston Rockets center was great at what he was asked to do and got paid accordingly for it. Sometimes less can be more, but one needs to put their ego aside for that to work.