{"id":652784,"date":"2026-03-11T14:10:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T14:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/652784\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T14:10:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T14:10:14","slug":"deandre-ayton-vs-t-wolves-shows-why-lakers-need-him-in-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/652784\/","title":{"rendered":"DeAndre Ayton vs. T-Wolves shows why Lakers need him in playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The noise around DeAndre Ayton<\/a> had been building for weeks.<\/p>\n

You could feel it in the murmurs from fans, in the exasperated sighs on sports talk radio, and in the quiet frustration that follows a player whose talent and effort often seem to arrive on different flights.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re trying to make me Clint Capela,\u201d a frustrated Ayton said in the Lakers locker room after their last-second loss to the Orlando Magic<\/a> on February 24, according to ESPN<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m not no Clint Capela!\u201d<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Lakers center Deandre Ayton moves to the basket during the first half at Crypto.com Arena, March 10. <\/p>\n

He scored just two points the following night <\/a>in the Lakers\u2019 113\u2013110 loss to the shorthanded Phoenix Suns<\/a> and was benched down the stretch in the team\u2019s next three games before leaving with an injury<\/a> last Thursday in Denver.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The noise only got louder after that. \u201cSoft.\u201d \u201cInconsistent.\u201d \u201cDisengaged.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been getting a lot of backlash for his effort and his play. He understands it,\u201d said Lakers\u2019 guard Marcus Smart of Ayton at the time. \u201cHe wants to do good, and he wants to help this team, and I think that\u2019s what\u2019s more frustrating for him, because he\u2019s trying.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night, 7-foot-tall Ayton looked like the self-proclaimed \u201cDominAyton.\u201d NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Fair or not, those labels and the backlash have followed the Los Angeles Lakers center this season like shadows stretching across a sunset. And on too many nights, Ayton hasn\u2019t done much to make them disappear.<\/p>\n

But on Tuesday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves, they vanished.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t flashy. It wasn\u2019t a 30-point explosion or a viral highlight reel. What it was, though, might have been more important; it was necessary.<\/p>\n

Ayton finished with a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double in the Lakers\u2019 120\u2013106 victory,<\/a> a stat line that doesn\u2019t scream dominance on paper but carried enormous weight in the rhythm of the game. When the Lakers were sputtering early \u2014 shooting bricks, watching Luka Don\u010di\u0107 start 2-for-10 from the field, and managing just 16 points in the first quarter \u2014 Ayton stepped into the vacuum.<\/p>\n

For one quarter, he looked like the player the Lakers believed they were getting when they signed him.<\/p>\n

Ayton scored 12 points in the second quarter alone. He crashed the offensive glass like it owed him money. Five offensive rebounds turned into second chances, which turned into oxygen for a team that looked like it was suffocating offensively.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a monster tonight,\u201d Austin Reaves said of Ayton\u2019s performance against Minnesota. \u201cI think he had like 12 and 10 in the first half. He was the only person scoring for us efficiently. That\u2019s what we need him to do. When he plays like that, we are a different team.\u201d<\/p>\n

By halftime, the Lakers had clawed back to 45\u201345.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was very locked in today,\u201d Don\u010di\u0107 said afterward. \u201cWhen he plays like that, he helps us win.\u201d<\/p>\n

That sentence may be the simplest truth surrounding this Lakers roster.<\/p>\n

When Ayton plays like that, everything works.<\/p>\n

And when he doesn\u2019t? The Lakers start to look alarmingly familiar to the team that got pushed around by Minnesota last April.<\/p>\n

That playoff series still hangs over this team like unfinished business.<\/p>\n

Without a true center, the Lakers were bullied in the paint. Outmuscled on the glass. Outmatched by the sheer size of Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle and Naz Reid. Jaxon Hayes, the Lakers\u2019 backup center, was the only real center available after the Mark Williams trade was rescinded by the Lakers <\/a>after the deadline, and by Game 5 the situation had turned into basketball survival.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hayes was benched and Gobert ended the Lakers season with a brutal exclamation point: 27 points, 24 rebounds, two blocks.<\/p>\n

Ayton finished with a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double in the Lakers\u2019 120\u2013106 victory against the Timberwolves. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s why Ayton is here now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Lakers didn\u2019t bring him in because he\u2019s perfect. They brought him in because in a Western Conference filled with giants \u2014 Gobert in Minnesota, Nikola Joki\u0107 in Denver, Alperen Sengun in Houston \u2014 survival requires size, strength, and a center capable of fighting in the mud.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night, Ayton looked like that center. The self-proclaimed \u201cDominAyton.\u201d<\/p>\n

He neutralized Gobert, holding the four-time Defensive Player of the Year to just three points. Gobert, who averages nearly two blocks a game, didn\u2019t record a single one. The Lakers also dominated the boards in key stretches \u2014 something that felt nearly impossible during last year\u2019s playoff collapse.<\/p>\n

And the result?<\/p>\n

A season sweep of the Timberwolves.<\/p>\n

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Lakers\u2019 Luka Don\u010di\u0107 handles the ball during the game against Minnesota on March 10 at Crypto.Com Arena in LA. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

More importantly, a reminder.<\/p>\n

In three games against Minnesota this season, Ayton has totaled 46 points and 30 rebounds. His presence changes the geometry of the court. When Luka Don\u010di\u0107<\/a> and Austin Reaves<\/a> run pick-and-roll actions, Ayton forces defenses into impossible decisions: Surrender the corner three or allow a 7-footer to live under the rim.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just had to feed off them,\u201d Ayton said Tuesday. \u201cThey found the areas where I was open and putting pressure on the rim.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lakers victory moved them into fourth place in the crowded Western Conference. If the postseason started today, the Lakers would see Minnesota again in the first round. If it\u2019s not Minnesota again next month, then there\u2019s a strong possibility it\u2019s Joki\u0107 and the Nuggets or Sengun and the Rockets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lakers\u2019 LeBron James was a spectator at Crypto.Com Arena, sidelined for three games due to arthritis in his foot. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Either way, the Lakers will need Ayton desperately<\/a> and he can\u2019t just be a sometimes player.<\/p>\n

He has to be a playoff player.<\/p>\n

You need a center willing to rebound in traffic, absorb contact, defend the rim, and score efficiently when the offense stalls.<\/p>\n

You need \u201cDominAyton.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not the version of Ayton that drifts through games like a tourist.<\/p>\n

The version that showed up Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was big for DA [Deandre Ayton] to have a game like that against a really good team, one of the best teams in basketball,\u201d said Lakers\u2019 head coach JJ Redick of Ayton. \u201cDuring this stretch there\u2019s been some ups and downs, but he was great tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lakers are now 10\u20132 this season without LeBron James, who has been sidelined the last three games<\/a> with arthritis in his foot. That statistic says a lot about the growth of Don\u010di\u0107 and Reaves as offensive engines.<\/p>\n

But if the Lakers are serious about escaping the first round \u2014 about surviving Minnesota\u2019s size or Joki\u0107\u2019s brilliance \u2014 the conversation eventually circles back to the same place.<\/p>\n

Ayton.<\/p>\n

The Lakers don\u2019t just want \u201cDominAyton.\u201d<\/p>\n

They need him.<\/p>\n

Because when the playoffs arrive and the Western Conference giants start swinging, the Lakers\u2019 championship hopes will depend on whether their center decides to swing back.<\/p>\n

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