Lakers’ Marcus Smart, Austin Reaves Send Strong Message About Deandre Ayton

Los Angeles Lakers veteran center Deandre Ayton stepped up in a big way during the first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets and his teammates took notice.

Deandre Ayton | Erik Williams-Imagn Images

Heading into the NBA playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers really didn’t know what they were going to get out of veteran center Deandre Ayton, who has had a lot of hot and cold performances over the course of his first season with the team.

Ayton’s presence in the paint against the best rebounding team in the NBA while going head-to-head with two-time All-Star Alperen Sengun was going to be crucial to the Lakers’ success in this first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets.

Fortunately for Los Angeles, Ayton showed up in a big way, especially on the boards, helping the Lakers pull off the series upset against Houston.

Marcus Smart Didn’t Hold Back About Lakers’ X-Factor: Deandre Ayton

Deandre Ayton and Marcus Smart | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

One-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year and the Lakers’ undisputed defensive leader, Marcus Smart, had high praise for Ayton’s performance on that end of the floor after the series-clinching win in Game 6.

“For me, it's D.A,” Smart said. “He played his ass off. … He was locked in from the start to the finish. He kept his composure. And he really set the tone for us on that defensive end and allowed me to do what I do, and everybody else to kind of galvanize and come together and do our thing.”

Austin Reaves: Ayton 'One of the Biggest Factors' in Lakers' in Game 6

Deandre Ayton and Alperen Sengun | Erik Williams-Imagn Images

Ayton didn’t have a massive impact on the game offensively, but he didn’t need to. His presence was felt defensively all night long, prompting star guard Austin Reaves to make sure the former No. 1 overall pick knew how important he was in closing out the series on Friday night in Houston.

“I went up to him right after the game and told him he was one of the biggest factors of us winning tonight, his physicality, guarding Sengun,” Reaves said of Ayton’s performance in Game 6. “The way he rebounded the ball offensively, defensively. Sixteen rebounds is a big number. Just his presence and his physicality and the way that he can guard in the post one-on-one, and then if we're getting hurt with something else, he can switch one through five. Just his versatility.”

“I'm just glad we were prepared and we played super physical. We were up to tempo, which, I heard Houston try to call us old or whatever, but we was moving fast. We was moving them puppies, man” - Deandre Ayton pic.twitter.com/Wcx1Fttmi7

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 2, 2026

With the Rockets now in the rearview for the Lakers, the attention turns to the incredibly tall task of trying to pull off what would arguably be the biggest series upset in the NBA playoffs thus far. Ayton and company will try to take this momentum from the first round and attempt to end the Oklahoma City Thunder’s title defense in the second round.

The veteran big man will need to have another big showing in the second round if the Lakers hope to have any chance of taking down the defending NBA champions in a seven-game series, which gets underway on Tues. May 5 at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.

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