DeAndre Ayton was cooking in the first two months but this time fans think it is him and the Los Angeles Lakers who are cooked.
The Lakers big man appears to be very comfortable with where he isn now. However, he is not a shell of himself that people cheered for in November and December after struggling in the last two games. DA posted just 8 rebounds in the last two and was benched in favor of Jaxson Hayes in their win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
In the loss to the Detroit Pistons, his 10 points and 2 rebounds was hardly felt.
Some fans are worried that the version are they going to see moving forward are the ones that they saw from the Portland Trailblazers and the Phoenix Suns.
Deandre Ayton explaining how in October to November he fooled the lakers fans completely pic.twitter.com/8267oHGMjy
— ᴛᴋ (@tacofriday_) January 3, 2026
Ayton has become weirdly passive on both ends. He is not playing with the energy or desire we saw from him in the first couple of months. At all. Like two different players.
— Letting Go (@ProvideContext) January 3, 2026
That 2 week stretch where laker fans were pretending Ayton is a good player was funny https://t.co/Z3lbcTVsEk
— 🪦🦇 (@DEADMAN_pt3) January 3, 2026
We’ve officially hit that stretch with Ayton
— ۟ (@_HNNDRX) January 3, 2026
DeAndre Ayton is frustrated
Some fans think this regression by the 2018 first overall pick has a lot to do with the changes JJ Redick introduced.
I think Ayton has genuinely tried to do everything the Lakers have asked of him but being the rim running, high motor, defensive rim deterrent isn’t who he naturally is and I kinda expected around game 30 there would be some regression despite him starting the season well
— D.O.C (@DOC323123) January 3, 2026
Redick had to institute revisions on their offense after suffering three straight losses before the end of the year. The change paid off as they won over the Grizzlies. The coach acknowledged that DA was the one affected the most by this change.
“I think he’s frustrated. He doesn’t feel like he’s getting the ball. There’s some stuff we have to clean up versus the shock, just for him to be more available,” Redick said according to Dave McMenamin on X.
“It’s on everybody. We tried to run an ATO (after-timeout play) for him, but that was one of the ATOs we didn’t run correctly. There are opportunities for him to duck in at times when he’s not being active, and there are opportunities to hit him when he’s not ducked in and we’re not hitting him.”
He has a challenge to Ayton for him to be featured prominently again on the plays.
“To me, it comes down to whether he’s going to be active, engaged, and assertive. I think the trust level from the past builds off that. But we have to start getting him a couple of touches before the seven-minute mark.”
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