{"id":119635,"date":"2026-05-02T17:13:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T17:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/02\/deandre-ayton-says-he-accepted-defensive-challenge-talkbasket-net\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T17:13:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T17:13:25","slug":"deandre-ayton-says-he-accepted-defensive-challenge-talkbasket-net","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/02\/deandre-ayton-says-he-accepted-defensive-challenge-talkbasket-net\/","title":{"rendered":"Deandre Ayton says he accepted defensive challenge &#8211; TalkBasket.net"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\">\n<figure><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DeandreAyton\/status\/1549224991840907264\/photo\/2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Deandre Ayton\/Twitter<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 decision to add Deandre Ayton following his buyout with the Portland Trail Blazers proved valuable during the series, as his presence made a clear impact.<\/p>\n<p>Although Ayton had voiced frustration earlier in the season about his role, he appeared to embrace it heading into the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>In the closeout game, the Lakers relied on Ayton defensively, matching him up one-on-one with Alperen Sengun to limit Houston\u2019s playmaking from the center position.<\/p>\n<p>He delivered on that assignment, helping hold Sengun to just one assist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI took the challenge to my chin,\u201d Ayton said. \u201cJust putting the team on my back and them trusting me. \u2026 That\u2019s what really got everything going, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ayton <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statmuse.com\/nba\/player\/deandre-ayton-9763\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">has played<\/a> 8 seasons for the Suns, Trail Blazers, and Lakers. He has averaged 15.8 points and 10.1 rebounds in 470 regular-season games.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Lakers Notes: LeBron, Ayton, Doncic, Reaves <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Jju2KExXnz\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/t.co\/Jju2KExXnz<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Hoops Rumors (@HoopsRumors) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HoopsRumors\/status\/2050560590943293663?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">May 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.talkbasket.net\/217562-deandre-ayton-says-he-accepted-defensive-challenge\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo: Deandre Ayton\/Twitter The Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 decision to add Deandre Ayton following his buyout with the Portland Trail Blazers proved valuable during the series, as his presence made a clear impact. Although Ayton had voiced frustration earlier in the season about his role, he appeared to embrace it heading into the playoffs. In the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":119636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119635"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}