Arizona Wildcats Insider Podcast: Deandre Ayton to Lakers

Arizona's Deandre Ayton signs a two-year deal with the Lakers after spending two seasons in Portland.

Feb 3, 2025; Portland, Oregon, USA; Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton (2) reacts after helping secure a 121-119 overtime win against the Phoenix Suns at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images | Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images

Welcome to another addition of the Arizona Wildcats Insider Podcast featuring your host Troy Hutchison, who will be delivering a daily podcast discussing everything happening surrounding Arizona athletics giving you an inside look at all the programs on campus.

To watch today's episode, view below.

Hutchison has been covering Arizona for the last seven years with his coverage spanning all-across UA’s campus from football and men’s basketball to Title IX sports. Plus, with so many former Wildcats playing at the next level in their prospective sports there will be moments where he will take a deep dive into the Cats execling outside of Tucson.

Wednesday afternoon, news broke from ESPN NBA insider Shams  Charania that former Arizona star center Deandre Ayton has agreed to a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers that includes a player option.

Before signing with the Lakers, Ayton has spent the last two seasons in Portland where his offensive numbers have decreased as well as his rebounding totals. Before that, he was averaging 16.4 PPG and 10.4 RPG while playing seven seasons for Phoenix.

With things for both sides not going the way they wanted it to, Ayton and Portland agreed on a contract buyout which gave him the freedom to go wherever he wanted. And before signing with the Lakers, he had interest from several teams including Indiana and Milwaukee, who were in a search for a center.

Now, this upcoming season,Ayton will be paid $34 million between Portland and the Lakers. In all, it is a low risk contract for L.A. with the potential of being the steal of the NBA off-season.

The move to the Lakers for Ayton means he will be playing alongside Luka Doncic, who was selected No. 3 overall in the 2018 NBA Draft. That is the same draft the big fella went No. 1 overall to Phoenix becoming the only first overall pick in Arizona Wildcats’ history.

Plus, he will be getting to potentially play with LeBron James, who throughout the course of his career has been able to get the best out of his teammates and lead them to the NBA Finals. For Ayton, this might be his best chance since his time with the Suns to win a championship.

Only time will tell if the signing of Ayton will work for the Lakers and him but the reward of signing him is worth the small risk in the end for Los Angeles.

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