The Lakers are trading center Deandre Ayton to the Wizards, sources tell ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).
According to Charania, Washington will send guard Jaden Hardy, a 2031 second-round pick, and a 2032 second-round pick to Los Angeles in exchange for Ayton.
The first overall pick in the 2018 draft, Ayton signed with the Lakers last summer after being bought out by Portland and spent the 2025/26 season atop the team’s depth chart at the five, starting 72 regular season games and all 10 of Los Angeles’ playoff contests.
However, he had an up-and-down year, setting new career lows in points (12.5), rebounds (8.0), and minutes (27.2) per game in his eighth NBA season. An offensive-minded player earlier in his career, Ayton struggled to adjust to the role the Lakers wanted him to play, which involved focusing on setting screens, defending, and rebounding.
The big man eventually bought into that role and exercised his $8.1MM player option for 2026/27, but the Lakers made it a priority this summer to find a new starting center and struck a deal with Utah to acquire Walker Kessler via sign-and-trade on a four-year, $130MM contract.
While they could’ve retained Ayton as Kessler’s backup, the Lakers plan to address that spot on the free agent market, according to Charania (Twitter link), who identifies Andre Drummond, Kevon Looney, and Jonas Valanciunas as possibilities. Valanciunas is still under contract with Denver but appears highly likely to be waived, since only $2MM of his $10MM salary for 2026/27 is guaranteed.
More to come…
