Deandre Ayton Becoming Luka Doncic's Enforcer Unsurprising Given Agent Connection

The Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings' rivalry seems to be exiting its dormant era and becoming a blood feud again.

The last time these two teams played, on December 28 at the Crypto.com Arena, the Lakers laid a 125-104 beatdown on the Kings. Sacramento guard Dennis Schroder, who played for the Purple and Gold on two different occasions, reportedly went at LA guard Luka Doncic.

Deandre Ayton reportedly played peacemaker, per ESPN's Anthony Slater, who reported Schroder's three-game suspension on Saturday that will cause the German to miss Monday night's rematch at the Golden 1 Center.

"The NBA suspended Sacramento Kings guard Dennis Schroder three games Saturday for confronting and attempting to strike Luka Doncic after the Kings' loss to the Lakers in Los Angeles on Dec. 28," Slater prefaced before saying, "Doncic and Schroder jawed at each other during various points of the Kings' 125-101 loss. During a timeout, Doncic taunted Schroder, telling him he 'should've signed that contract' in reference to the four-year, $82 million extension Schroder declined from the Lakers a few years ago.

"Things appeared to cool off as the game ended. But Schroder left the visitors locker room at Crypto.com Arena, spotted Doncic and tempers flared again inside the tunnel across from the home bench.

"Forty minutes after the buzzer, Schroder went after Doncic, telling Doncic that he can't call him a "b----" on the court and pretend everything is fine off the court. The NBA concluded that Schroder attempted to strike Doncic. Lakers center Deandre Ayton tried to drag away Schroder from the confrontation while a stunned Doncic attempted to exit as security intervened."

Deandre Ayton Establishing Himself as Lakers Enforcer

Ayton stepped up in a big moment that wasn't caught on camera at all or reported until weeks later, protecting the franchise's new golden child. That could help establish Ayton as Doncic's enforcer moving forward.

Ayton's agent, Bill Duffy of WME Sports, also represents Doncic. It's critical that he was there to protect the Lakers' long-term investment. That could help him earn some long-term security in LA, even if a big contract isn't coming to him this coming offseason because of a lack of Lakers resources to make it happen.

Ayton may have saved JJ Redick an even bigger headache than he already had amid a challenging season in trying to manage the LeBron James-to-Luka transition behind the scenes. From the sounds of it, Doncic didn't want to engage Schroder physically in that setting, but it might've helped in a major way that Ayton was there to stop it.