Lakers' $16M project reveals $269M Luka Doncic, LeBron James decision that sparked major change

The Los Angeles Lakers made the decision last summer to sign Deandre Ayton to play alongside LeBron James and Luka Dončić after he cleared waivers. Many reporters, including Kendrick Perkins, raised concerns about Ayton’s character.

“The word around the league is not good about Deandre Ayton... right now he's been labeled as a diva, as a cancer in the locker room... he has to change a lot about himself or he will find his career being shortened,” Perkins said.

A couple of weeks ago, those concerns were evident with Ayton, but now he is unlocking the team as a whole down the stretch.

“This Ayton makes Los Angeles a serious threat. They’ve won seven consecutive games, including victories over the Nuggets, Timberwolves, Knicks, and Rockets. Those are elite teams, and the Lakers have secured playoff seeding tiebreakers over all the teams right around them in the standings. Luka is playing out of his mind, but Ayton buying into his role has been just as crucial to the purple and gold’s success,” Lake Show Life’s Tyler Watts wrote. “Deandre Ayton wasted no time proving to Los Angeles Lakers fans that he meant what he said. The big man is embracing his role and thriving in it. That is exactly what JJ Redick and the franchise wanted all year. Everyone is seeing the rewards. Hopefully, Ayton stays bought in because that is the key to a deep playoff run. All fans can do is stay tuned to find out.”

This positive response from Ayton is now clear, and he recently explained why he made the sudden shift.

“JJ’s been instilling to us that this is a playoff atmosphere, and we fighting for a playoff position,” Ayton said. “You can tell LeBron’s been locked in, Luka — everybody’s been completely locked in, and I’m just tired of being the odd man out. I think I told the media the other day, it’s just me finally catching up.”

Ayton has finally come to understand how the Lakers want him to be used and how he will get his opportunities playing alongside stars like LeBron and Luka. Now that Ayton is fully engaged, this is exactly where the Lakers want to be.

It only took the leaders in front of him entering playoff mode for Ayton to follow suit. He is starting to realize that he was the missing piece to this team being a true contender all along.

More MLB news: