Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
The Wizards hope, in Year 1, not to put too much on Dybantsa’s plate. That was part of the rationale for bringing in Davis and All-Star guard Trae Young, along with other veterans like Khris Middleton and Deandre Ayton — to pour their knowledge into him and the other young guys. For now, it will be enough for Dybantsa to attack in space when he has the ball, and to give legit effort defensively. “I mean, AJ averaged 25 as a freshman in college. There’s not very many of us,” said Young — the last freshman to lead the nation in scoring, at Oklahoma, in 2018. “I know he knows how to score.”
“I feel like there’s not a lot of pressure on me because I have such a great team around me,” Dybantsa said. “A lot of No. 1 picks come into a situation where they are ‘The Guy’ (and) everything’s kind of centered around them. But I have All-Star Hall-of-Famers on my team that I can (learn) under and get some knowledge from: Khris Middleton, Trae Young, AD and Deandre Ayton. So I don’t have to come in and carry this huge load. I think I can just bond with these guys and learn it slowly and learn how to play the right way.”
Josh Robbins: AJ Dybantsa, citing the veteran presence of Anthony Davis, Trae Young, Deandre Ayton and Khris Middleton: "I feel like there’s not a lot of pressure on me because I have such a great team around me.”
Montrezl Harrell: I don’t know what the hell Washington is doing, to be honest with you. It doesn’t make sense. They got the young kid AJ Dybantsa, but he’s at the three. You bring over Deandre Ayton, but you already drafted the young kid Alex Sarr. Then you have Anthony Davis, but you have another center on the bench in Tristan Vukčević. Now you have four centers because you also have Jonas Valančiūnas. Your only backup to Anthony Davis right now is Anthony Gill, and then you have Trae Young with no legitimate two-guard playing. It looks like a disaster. Their starting five is Trae Young, Khris Middleton, AJ Dybantsa, Anthony Davis and Deandre Ayton. But when you look at that bench, you can beat them with that every night. It’s going to be something where the coach is going to have to coach that team. There is a lot of uncertainty down there. I don’t see them being in any serious conversation in the East. Maybe they can get into a play-in situation, but I don’t see them being a crazy East contender. I just don’t know what their team identity is.
In terms of additions, the Lakers revamped their center position, which is a spot O’Neal is quite familiar with. And yet, while he’s happy to see some new faces in town, he’s more excited about the fact that Deandre Ayton is no longer around. “It’s only one great center and a lot of good centers,” O’Neal said. “I don’t know what the Lakers offense is gonna look like yet, but you got guys … they can do a lot of stuff around the rim, unlike ‘Dominayton,’ who didn’t do anything.”
Advertisement
Speaking during an episode of Lakers Mailbag, Buha said LA needed to save money and move below the salary cap to execute several additional moves. The organization also managed to receive assets in return, helping replenish its collection of draft capital and other potential trade pieces. "My understanding with the Ayton situation is it's not just that they traded him to replenish the cupboard," Buha said. "I mean, they needed to save some money, and they got some assets back. So I think those were two, you know, the two driving forces of that move. "Remember, they needed to save some money to get under the cap to execute several of their moves."
Yossi Gozlan: The Wizards remain elite at using trade exceptions before they expire. Their $13.4 million trade exception (expires today) fits Deandre Ayton ($8.1 million) & Khris Middleton ($5.6 million) to give him exactly three years, $17.6 million. This allows them to create two new TPEs.
Dave McMenamin: The Lakers make the Deandre Ayton-Jaden Hardy trade with WAS official. Hardy will wear No. 7 for LAL.
Marc Stein: The Lakers are now pursuing both a wing defender and a backup big man after lining up a Deandre Ayton-to- Washington trade which adds $2 million in financial wiggle room for their summer business, league sources say. More NBA from @JakeLFischer and me: tinyurl.com/3bk3v449
Advertisement
It’s no secret the Lakers are looking to upgrade at center (it should be noted Deandre Ayton is expected to pick up his player option and be back with the team). Robinson is the kind of big man they could use, but his health concerns — particularly his chronic ankle issues — will give the Lakers and every team some pause.
