Deandre Ayton may soon decide whether to take a guaranteed $8.1 million for next season, and that choice could leave the Lakers looking for a trade partner rather than simply keeping last year’s starting center. If he opts in, the team would control his salary only long enough to move it.
That is why Ayton keeps showing up in offseason conversations now. The Lakers are trying to line up a center of the future, and Luka Dončić wanted that search under way before he left for Europe this summer. Ayton’s decision sits right at the center of that plan, because his player option for next season is the piece that determines whether the Lakers have flexibility or a trade problem.
Dave McMenamin framed it plainly: the Lakers do not know whether Ayton will opt in, and if he does, Rob Pelinka would need to find a trade partner for him. The logic is simple. Ayton was last year’s starting center, but he also struggled in that role and had a rocky, up-and-down season. A player can be useful and still be the wrong fit, and that is where Ayton appears to sit for the Lakers.
He is still viewed as a viable NBA player with value. That matters because a team does not need to be stuck with a contract just because it wants to move on. Ayton could appeal to a contender as a backup big man, and the Lakers could potentially take back more salary than they send out in a deal. That sort of trade would not be about finding a star return. It would be about clearing the lane for a different kind of center and reshaping the roster around it.
The complication is that the Lakers may still have last year’s starting center on the roster at the start of free agency, even as they talk about a future built at that position. Ayton’s name keeps coming up because his deal is manageable, his value is real, and his fit in LA remains shaky. That combination is why the situation feels more like a one-and-done than the start of something stable.
What happens next is narrow and decisive: Ayton either takes the guaranteed money or tests free agency, and the Lakers either keep the salary slot or start hunting for someone else to take it. If he opts in, the trade market becomes the next move.
