The Wizards shored up their center position for next season by acquiring DeAndre Ayton from the Los Angeles Lakers. It’s yet another trademark Will Dawkins trade — the price for Ayton was a guard they didn’t want and a couple second round picks. Add this move to a list that include paying nothing the team wanted to obtain Trae Young from the Atlanta Hawks, and paying a modest price for Anthony Davis.
This isn’t a franchise-altering move, but it’s a smart one nonetheless. While multiple teams have
given up on Ayton, including the Lakers, who just paid a heavy price to acquire Ayton’s replacement, he’s not a bad player, and he will upgrade Washington’s backup center spot next season.
Last season, Ayton’s individual production was solidly above average (144 PPA — in PPA, 100 is average and higher is better), though the Lakers were only “about the same” on both ends when he was in the game. That goes for regular season and playoffs.
After spending heavily to acquire Walker Kessler, the Lakers needed to offload Ayton’s relatively modest $8.1 million salary to create financial flexibility for other moves, and get back some future draft resources. That they dealt him for a player they don’t want and a couple second round picks is a bit of an indictment of the former No. 1 overall pick — a guy selected ahead of players like Luka Doncic, Trae Young, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Still, a guy one team doesn’t want can still have value to another. For Washington, Ayton checks a few boxes. At full health, he’ll be the primary backup center — slotting into a three-big F/C rotation with Alex Sarr and Davis. With Ayton in the fold, Davis won’t have to spend much time as the titular center. Figure the team will start and finish halves with Davis and Sarr up front and play combinations of the three in between.
Ayton also provides some injury insurance in the likely event that Davis or Sarr gets hurt. Both have injury histories. Sarr is currently recovering from a broken foot suffered during an offseason workout. Both are expected to be ready for training camp, but it’s still wise to have some coverage.
Ayton also provides some flexibility in case Dawkins and Michael Winger change their minds and agree to trade Davis to Golden State or elsewhere. Ayton is no long-term answer in the middle, but neither is Davis. With Ayton, the issues are quality and attitude — he’s not The Guy and hasn’t exhibited the willingness to do the work necessary to be The Guy.
With Davis, the issues are age, health, and expense. When healthy, he’s been terrific.
The move will give Washington an $8.1 million trade “exception” in the form of Ayton’s expiring contract. They’ll also create a $6 million exception because, as suggested by ESPN’s Bobby Marks, they’ll use their existing trade exception for Kelly Olynyk to bring in Ayton — which was set to expire July 9 if they didn’t use it.
Again, nothing about this transaction significantly alters the franchise’s trajectory. Ayton improves their reserve center spot and gives them some flexibility. He’s a temporary solution that fits a current need, and it didn’t cost future assets with significant value. That’s solid work from the front office.
