Blazers’ Donovan Clingan Sends Message to Deandre Ayton After Facing Him

Jason Fray|
Oct 27, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Portland Trail Blazers center Donovan Clingan (23) reacts during the first half against the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: William Liang-Imagn Images
Oct 27, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Portland Trail Blazers center Donovan Clingan (23) reacts during the first half against the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: William Liang-Imagn Images | William Liang-Imagn Images

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Portland Trail BlazersLos Angeles Lakers

On Monday evening, the Portland Trail Blazers took care of business by beating a shorthanded Lakers team 122-108 in Los Angeles.

The trio of Deni Avdija, Jrue Holiday, and Jerami Grant combined to score 71 points in the win. Also putting in a very strong shift was second-year center Donovan Clingan.

Clingan accrued a double-double (16 points, 14 rebounds) in the victory. While his promise is widely known throughout the league, this sort of production on a nightly basis is something that truly could vault the Blazers into playoff contention.

An interesting subplot in the contest involved the battle between Clingan and his former teammate/mentor, Deandre Ayton. Putting up similar numbers, the Bahamian big man finished with 16 points and eight rebounds in the defeat.

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Ayton, now the starting center for the Lakers, had somewhat of a tumutuous tenure in the Pacific Northwest. Various reports alleged that he wasn't the best teammate — potentially a contributing factor for why the Blazers opted to move on from him.

Whether there's validity to that line of thinking or not, Clingan spoke to Joe Freeman of The Oregonian and offered some immense praise for his former teammate.

“I love DA,” Clingan said. “He helped me so much my rookie year, getting me adapted to this game. And I’ve got a lot of respect for him and love for him. It was cool going out there playing against him tonight.”

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Hearing a player stick up for another often holds far more weight than rumors do. This is particularly the case when one of those players was a teammate of the alleged party.

Ayton thus far in Los Angeles has been a model teammate. He's said all the right things and visibly works very hard on the floor to be a presence offensively and defensively.

Clingan Might Be Portland's Future

The writing was always on the wall when Clingan was taken last season in the lottery. The UConn product was going to be the center of the future (and now present) in Portland.

At the very least, as Clingan alluded to, Ayton may have been a far better teammate than anyone realistically thought.

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For more news and notes on the Portland Trail Blazers, visit Portland Trail Blazers on SI.

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Jason Fray
JASON FRAY

Jason Fray is an On SI Contributor based in Los Angeles. Jason previously wrote for Bleacher Report, Saturday Down South, and FOX Sports. He is a graduate of UCLA.

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