{"id":725884,"date":"2026-05-05T00:48:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T00:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/725884\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T00:48:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T00:48:22","slug":"why-deandre-ayton-is-key-for-lakers-playoff-upset-vs-thunder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/725884\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Deandre Ayton is key for Lakers playoff upset vs. Thunder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lakers<\/a> center Deandre Ayton<\/a> bounced across the court after practice Monday wearing all black, his chains swaying, his mood jovial as he approached the media to talk about his role in the Western Conference semifinals.<\/p>\n

His spirits were high for what lies ahead for the Lakers as they prepared to face the best team in the NBA, the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.<\/a><\/p>\n

Lakers coach JJ Redick<\/a> said the play of his center \u201cchanges our ceiling the most.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simply put, Ayton\u2019s high-level of play will be paramount for the Lakers when they begin the best-of-seven series Tuesday night in Oklahoma City<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything has been pretty solid, just staying in my role and just doing more in my role,\u201d Ayton said. \u201cThis is the playoffs, so everybody can do more, everybody has another level. And this is the second round coming in, so I think we all deserve that little bit of increase of confidence from what we\u2019ve done so far and the outcome from the adversity we\u2019ve faced. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like that\u2019s where we are right now and I think that\u2019s what\u2019s motivating me, as well, coming into these games. Just seeing, listening and being dialed in and seeing the results of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were times Ayton was a force against the Houston Rockets<\/a> in the first round. He had double figures in rebounds in four of the six games and had three double-doubles in the series. He averaged 11.8 points and his 10.8 rebounds are third-best in the postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cDA\u2019s had a great season,\u201d Redick said. \u201cHe was instrumental in us getting past Houston. I think his baseline of who he is every day for the last two, two-and-a-half months has been awesome. And I know his teammates, certainly the staff, we\u2019ve all embraced him all season long. Again, he\u2019s the person that changes our ceiling the most.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Ayton and Marcus Smart<\/a> came to the Lakers last summer, giving them a much-needed center and a defensive-minded guard. Smart said he didn\u2019t know Ayton before they became teammates, but the two of them have bonded.<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers teammates Marcus Smart, left, and Deandre Ayton celebrate during Game 6 against the Houston Rockets on May 1.<\/p>\n

(Kenneth Richmond \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

They sit next to each other in the locker room and Smart is the first to always encourage Ayton, to push him, to expect more out of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot his big brother, but I\u2019m just somebody who he respects,\u201d Smart said. \u201cHe sees [me] go out there and not only preaching, I\u2019m actually doing what I\u2019m preaching. I\u2019m not just preaching, I\u2019m out there with him, in the midst of it, battling with him, going through adversity with him, right? I think that drives a lot of respect for one another in that aspect, when you\u2019re going to battle with somebody. You\u2019re struggling while they\u2019re struggling right there with you, trying to help you get through yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 7-foot Ayton will be going up against 7-1 Chet Holmgren<\/a> and 7-foot Isaiah Hartenstein<\/a>. Holmgren averaged 17.3 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in the first round and Hartenstein averaged 11.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.0 blocks.<\/p>\n

Ayton will have to hold his own against them and still be the force the Lakers have leaned on in the postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying bigger. … Just being relentless on the glass, you know, protecting the rim as much as possible and not letting them in my paint,\u201d Ayton said. \u201cIt\u2019s gonna be big with me protecting that paint in this series. They really generate and touch the paint. … Them having 50-plus points in the paint, you know they\u2019re a really unstoppable team. So, I\u2019m really just looking forward to protecting the paint as best as I can and staying on the floor as long as possible. That\u2019s about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being on the road and in a hostile environment is something that Ayton also is looking forward to. He knows the crowd in Oklahoma City is like a college atmosphere and that he and the Lakers can\u2019t get rattled.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, you can\u2019t hear yourself,\u201d Ayton said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely the \u2018Thunder\u2019 for a reason, you know? Their fans are thunderous. You know, you can hear the floor shaking, the bleachers, you can\u2019t even hear a play call. And you gotta be super dialed in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re the defending champs and you know their fans have been in atmospheres and hype games and you know they\u2019re ready for their team to do their thing. So, we just gotta come in super prepared and just dial out all the noise and just come in and play together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lakers center Deandre Ayton bounced across the court after practice Monday wearing all black, his chains swaying, his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3794],"tags":[3968,7,2010,12500,60062,1586,2184,142,292,194,4066,949,90084,326,6,7944,1222,65,3039,211],"class_list":["post-725884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-rockets","tag-ayton","tag-basketball","tag-block","tag-ceiling","tag-champion-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-deandre-ayton","tag-first-round","tag-game","tag-houston","tag-houston-rockets","tag-houstonrockets","tag-isaiah-hartenstein","tag-lakers-playoff","tag-marcus-smart","tag-nba","tag-paint","tag-play","tag-point","tag-rebound","tag-rockets"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116519221140613096","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}