The Los Angeles Lakers might have a problem.
All the caveats apply here about it being early, about it being the preseason, and anything else that needs to be mentioned in early October. But Deandre Ayton's start to his Lakers career was the opposite of encouraging.
In preseason action against the Golden State on Oct. 5, Ayton played 21 minutes. He was a minus-25 in plus/minus.
It's hard to do that.
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Ayton had played 18 minutes in the Lakers' preseason opener and been a minus-2, which also isn't ideal but also isn't the stuff of nightmares.
It'll take time for the Lakers to figure out what they're doing with Ayton this season. He's more of a traditional center that needs help getting the basketball and isn't as much of a creator himself.
It's also not going to be easy to solve everything in the preseason.
The expectation is that LeBron James won't play until the regular season gets here. And Luka Doncic sat out the first two preseason games coming off his long summer playing for Slovenia at EuroBasket.
That leaves Ayton playing with some of the Lakers' secondary creators, and so far, not so good.
Ayton has a curious NBA background. He was the No. 1 overall pick, which always comes with it some extra cachet.
But he also hasn't been widely sought after in recent years. There seems to be a widespread acceptance that he may not positively impact winning.
The Lakers will hope that Ayton can change the narrative by the time the regular season gets here.
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