The Los Angeles Lakers are adding former first-overall NBA Draft Pick Deandre Ayton amid the team’s desperate effort to bolster the roster around LeBron James and his new running mate, Luka Doncic.
The one-year agreement, first reported by ESPN, will pay the 7-foot center around $9 million next season on top of the $25 million owed to Ayton under the terms of his buyout in Portland.
The deal comes at a crucial time for the Lakers, who recently learned that James would be exercising his $52.6 million player option for the upcoming season. Curiously, his agent Rich Paul told ESPN that James ‘wants to compete for a championship’ but ‘knows the Lakers are building for the future.’
Paul stopped short of issuing a trade demand on behalf of James, but the comment did raise eyebrows coming one year after the Lakers agreed to draft LeBron’s son Bronny – a move many viewed as a gift to the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
For a team hoping to improve without the benefit of salary cap space, the Lakers may have a perfect fit in Ayton, who agreed to a buyout with the Trail Blazers last week.
Ayton spent his first five NBA seasons with Phoenix before joining the Trail Blazers two years ago. He struggled in Portland while playing for mediocre teams, but he has averaged 16.4 points and 10.5 rebounds during his seven seasons while making 59 percent of his shots.
The Los Angeles Lakers are adding former first-overall pick Deandre Ayton (pictured)
LeBron and Bronny became the first father and son to play together in NBA history last season, but the 20-year-old son claims he doesn’t know what the future holds for his dad
James’ agent Rich Paul and Spike Lee pose for a photo during the 2025 NBA Draft
The Lakers struggled without Davis in the paint last season, with Jaxson Hayes playing poorly enough to get benched by coach JJ Redick in the final games. Los Angeles was eliminated from the first round of the playoffs by Minnesota in five games, with big man Rudy Gobert racking up 27 points and 24 rebounds in the clinching victory while the Lakers largely played without a center.
James, who has played in 1,562 regular-season games, is 50 shy of breaking Hall of Fame member Robert Parish’s NBA record. He averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists in 70 games in 2024-25 to rank in the top 22 in each category.
LeBron and Bronny became the first father and son to play together in NBA history last season, but the 20-year-old son of the top scorer in NBA history claims he doesn’t know what the future holds.
Although Bronny James tries to stay off all social media, that strategy didn’t stop one of his friends from calling him up this week and asking him about his dad’s thoughts on the Lakers’ direction – and what it all might mean for Bronny’s future.
‘I said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about,”‘ Bronny said Wednesday after practice with the Lakers’ NBA Summer League team. ‘I don’t really pay attention to that stuff. There’s a lot of stuff going around that I don’t pay attention to.’
