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Deandre Ayton fits with LeBron, Luka and the Lakers on the court. Will that be
 enough?

https://reurl.cc/axlZ47

湖人記者Dan Woike撰文談到球隊新援Deandre Ayton，原文很長以下節錄部分

On paper, Ayton makes the Lakers better. He’s the kind of talent that could c
onvince LeBron James the Lakers are for real about competing for a title and t
he kind of weapon that has Doncic excited about the partnership.
在紙面上，Ayton的加盟讓湖人變得更強。他是一位有實力的球員，足以讓LBJ相信球隊真
的有意爭奪總冠軍，同時也是一個能讓77對未來搭檔感到興奮的武器。

But basketball isn’t a sport played on paper. It’s 48 minutes on the court t
hat come after hours inside the practice facility, on training tables, in airp
lanes and in film sessions. The best teams make plays on the court because the
y limit their mistakes off them.


And with that in mind, it’s reasonable to remember how the Lakers managed to
get Ayton on their roster in the first place.
也正因如此，值得回顧一下湖人究竟是如何將Ayton招致麾下的。

Entering this offseason with the sort of parallel goals of improving last year
’s team while also keeping enough flexibility to build out the best possible
roster for Doncic moving forward, Ayton’s signing somehow accomplishes both.
It does so, of course, because Portland is paying Ayton $26 million-ish to pla
y against the Trail Blazers (and to do so for a franchise its fans hate).


Ayton was only ever in Portland to begin with because the Suns also didn’t wa
nt him as part of their plans and were happy to swap him out for Jusuf Nurkic.
 The Athletic’s Jason Quick detailed the ways Ayton failed to meet Portland’
s standards after his buyout from the Trail Blazers. And in Los Angeles, the s
potlight is going to be brighter and the stakes are going to be higher.


But while timing isn’t everything — it’s close. And the Lakers might be get
ting Ayton at the perfect time. Doncic has already trimmed down ahead of EuroB
asket, a massive chip on his shoulder after having his work ethic and commitme
nt questioned after his trade to the Lakers. Austin Reaves is entering the mos
t important season of his career, a massive contract in unrestricted free agen
cy at stake. And James, who turns 41 in December, has made it clear that he ha
s no time to wait.


For Ayton, who turns 27 at the end of July, the opportunity to re-establish hi
mself couldn’t be more clear. While his contract with the Lakers has a second
-year player option, no one involved wants him to exercise it — the hope bein
g that he far outplays that $8 million valuation and commands way more next su
mmer.


Team sources believe the Lakers have the right coaching staff to make that hap
pen. In JJ Redick, they have a deadly serious head coach who also understands
how to relate to players. Assistant Scott Brooks worked with Ayton in Portland
 two years ago, and Nate McMillan has either played or coached with or against
 virtually every personality type the NBA’s ever concocted. And if not, the L
akers have maintained their flexibility for next summer and beyond.


The Lakers weren’t going to do better this summer than Deandre Ayton, not wit
h what was on the market, not with the little they had to offer. If you polled
 29 other general managers about whether they’d rather trade a first-round pi
ck for Nic Claxton or if they’d rather pay Ayton $8 million, we can be pretty
 confident in the answer.


And if there was hesitation, it wouldn’t be because of the stuff on the court
. It would be concerns about the culture, the fit, the commitment, the underst
anding about the required sacrifices that need to be made in order to win at t
he highest level.
而如果有人會猶豫，那原因也不會是球場上的表現，而是文化契合度、是否適合團隊、是
否願意為勝利做出必要的犧牲等問題。

In Los Angeles, Ayton will have a chance to prove that he’s an absolute barga
in. But the points and the rebounds aren’t going to be the real way to evalua
te that.
在洛杉磯，Ayton將有機會證明自己是一筆物超所值的投資。但評價他的標準，不會只是
場上的得分和籃板數據。

It’ll happen more in the shadows, in those meetings and on those planes and i
n the training room. If the Lakers get the best of Ayton there, they’ll see t
he impact in another number, the most important one.
真正的關鍵，將在那些不為人知的時刻：球隊會議、飛行途中、訓練室內。如果湖人能在
這些地方看到一個最佳狀態的Ayton，他們就會在最重要的一個數字上看到成果。

They’ll see it in the win column.
他們會在勝場數上看到變化。


短評或心得：

給JJ調一下

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※ 作者: Wojnarowski 2025-07-05 10:39:36
※ 文章代碼(AID): #1eQ91htI (NBA)
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