Blazers Could Struggle to Extract Value in Deandre Ayton Trade

The former No. 1 draft pick had an uneven debut season in Portland.

Apr 11, 2024; Portland, Oregon, USA; Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton (2) shoots a jump shot during the second half against the Golden State Warriors at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images / Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images

The Portland Trail Blazers' most expensive player, veteran center Deandre Ayton, occupies a unique place in the NBA landscape. He's generally considered a good-not-great big man not nearly worth his current four-year, $132.9 million maximum contract. The 26-year-old has been dogged by inconsistency ever since he initially agreed to that lucrative deal with the Phoenix Suns as a restricted free agent in the summer of 2022. Upon getting paid, he clashed with then-head coach Monty Williams during his final season in Phoenix, after which he and wing Toumani Camara were offloaded to Portland as part of a three-team deal with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Ayton struggled with that very same inconsistency during his debut season as a Blazer. He appeared in just 55 healthy contests, and closed out strong after a brutal first month of play. All told, Ayton averaged 16.7 points on 57 percent field goal shooting and 82.3 percent foul line shooting, 11.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.8 blocks per bout. Fine numbers, sure, but nothing earth-shattering, and far from the "DominAyton" level he predicted for himself in preseason pressers.

During the latest episode of their must-listen Blazer Focused podcast, The Oregonian's Aaron Fentress explained to co-host Craig Birnbach why trading Ayton may be a delicate dance.

"You can't have Ayton be a dud 'cause then you can't get much for him [in a trade]," Fentress opined. "It's going to be tough to get anything for him anyway, 'cause no one in the league is going to buy that Ayton's going to be some guy who's going to come in at [$34 million] and make a huge difference, to where they're going to give up a lot of assets. This might be a situation where you have to take two second picks and some expiring contracts and a trade exception to move him. Now if he's going to play out of his mind like he did at the end of last season, he's a 25 and 12 guy, and he's helping you win, well now there's pressure on you, because you have to (a) find an injury to sit him down because he's helping you win, or you've got to try to move him right away... because that flies in the face of everything else you're trying to do."

After the All-Star break last season, Ayton was indeed a man on fire. He averaged 22.7 points on 58.3 percent shooting from the field and 84.4 percent foul line shooting, 12.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.7 blocks across his 18 final games of the year.

Better yet, his numbers didn't greatly move the needle when it came to actually winning (i.e. messing up Portland's intended tank), as the Blazers went a scant 4-14 in those contests.

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