Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stat line not ‘most important’ thing in Thunder-Lakers series
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on how he would assess his play this playoff series after the Thunder’s 131-108 win over the Lakers on Saturday: “They obviously haven’t been my best performances. But I think I’ve been able to help the team win, and that’s most important.”
Stephen A. Smith ripped former Phoenix Suns big Deandre Ayton after the Los Angeles Lakers fell behind the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder3-0 intheir Western Conference semifinals series.
“That damn Deandre Ayton,” Smith said on ESPN’s First Take on Monday, May 11. “I mean, this dude. I bring up the fact that he’s from the Bahamas and people say, ‘Why you keep bringing that up?’ I said because he plays 50% of the time as if he’s lounging on the beach. That’s how he plays. You see the frustration on the faces of the Lakers.”
Averaging career-low postseason numbers, Ayton posted 10 points and six rebounds, with five coming on the offensive boards, along with three fouls, a steal and a block in the Lakers 131-108 loss in Game 3 on May 9 in Los Angeles.
“There was one point, I think (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) or somebody got an And-1 on him. He didn’t even attempt to move his feet. He just stretched his arms and pushed the dude. … No sliding those puppies as (Kendrick Perkins) would say or anything like that. It’s demoralizing.”
The Thunder face the Lakers May 11 with a chance to end the series in a sweep and advance to the conference finals.
Ayton is averaging 7.3 points and 9.3 rebounds against Oklahoma City in this series.
“He’s 7-1. He doesn’t look like he’s gained a pound. He doesn’t look like he’s spent any time in the gym working on his game or his body or anything. Looks like the same dude we’ve seen for years. Like literally, please make sure the check is in the account, I need my money and I’ll show up, but I’m not really going to show up but half the time.”
Ayton is back in the playoffs in his first season with the Lakers after having last made it in his final season with the Suns 2022-23.
In 45 career playoff games with Phoenix over a three-year stretch, Ayton averaged 15 points on 61.5% shooting and 105 rebounds in 33.7 minutes per game.
With the Lakers, Ayton is averaging 10.4 points on 53.1% shooting in 29.3 minutes, all career postseason lows, and 10.3 rebounds in nine playoffs games this season. The Lakers defeated the Rockets in the first round.
“It’s embarrassing,” Smith concluded. “It really, really is because he’s not a scrub. He’s got skills, but the effort is so minimal. The absence of urgency is so flagrant, it breeds frustration. He’s he kind of guy that if you’re the Lakers, you almost have to get him out of your locker room, just because of the effect that he will have on the other guys because of this flagrant lack of urgency that he plays with.”
Bought out by the Portland Trail Blazers, Ayton was acquired by the Lakers and is on a two-year deal for $16.2 million with a player option on his second year in 2026-27. He’ll then be an unrestricted free agent.
Ayton had the best plus/minus out of the Lakers’ starters in Saturday’s game at minus-8. LeBron James and Rui Hachimura each finished with a minus-24 while Austin Reaves and Marcus Smith ended Game 4 with a minus-23 and minus-22, respectively.
However, Ayton picked up a foul a second in Game 4 and had a sequence in which he failed to come up with a defensive rebound with under 10 minutes left in the game and the Lakers down 98-87.
“Boy, Ayton can not get a defensive rebound,” ESPN play-by-play announcer Dave Pasch said during this sequence. “He’s around the ball so much, but he just doesn’t come down with it.”
The camera then turned to Lakers coach JJ Redick walking back to the bench as commentator Doris Burke says, ‘Now this is what would drive you mad if you’re JJ Redick.”
Redick turned to assistant Scott Brooks and appeared to say, “I can’t play him.”
Jaxson Hayes is the Lakers’ backup center. Hayes is averaging 4.3 points and three rebounds in this year’s playoffs in 15.3 minutes a game.
Burke continued by saying “you better bring a higher degree of physicality and intensity” in pointing out Ayton’s lackluster attempt to block out Thunder big Isaiah Hartenstein.
Ayton was called for a foul on the play with 9:11 left in the game.
“You can’t put two light hands on him and walk casually while Isaiah Hartenstein is trying to get a rebound,” Burke continued. “That will not get it done.”
Ayton grabbed just one defensive rebound in Game 3.
Redick defended Ayton in a media scrum after practice on Sunday, May 10
“Look, I’ve been around DA for a season now,” Redick said. “I know how special he is for our group to succeed. And I told him this morning, I said to him in the Houston series at one point he was the big part of the reason we were winning the series. He was a big part of the reason we won the series. I believe in him and he’s going to help us win (Monday).”
Ayton drew the same praise and criticism in his time with the Suns in terms of helping the team succeed, but lacking effort and intensity.
The sequence Saturday against Oklahoma City brings back memories when he watched Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic grab two offense rebounds in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals before finally entering the paint at the baseline.
Jokic got a third straight offensive board with Ayton standing underneath the basket, but Jokic missed the shot as Kevin Durant finally secured the defensive rebound for the Suns.
“I don’t know what you wanted me to do right there,” Ayton said.
The Suns traded Ayton to Portland going into the 2023-24 season. He spent two seasons with the Trail Blazers, who missed the playoffs in each of those two years before making a return to the postseason this year.
The San Antonio Spurs eliminated Portland, a seventh seed, in the first round in five games.
Ayton was never swept in a series with the Suns, who have been swept in their last two playoff appearances. The Minnesota Timberwolves took them out in four in 2024 and the Thunder broke out the brooms on Phoenix in this year’s postseason.
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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