The Trail Blazers made a surprising move ahead of the start of free agency on Monday, electing to buyout center DeAndre Ayton according to a team release. Ayton is on track to become a free agent on Wednesday once his $35.5 million salary clears waivers.
Ayton reportedly approached the Blazers about a buyout after trade talks did not go anywhere with the Blazers not wanting to take back any long-term deals in a Ayton swap in order to maintain their flexibility per Michael Scotto of Hoopshype. The Blazers gain some additional flexibility with the deal with their own spending in free agency since Ayton gave back a bit of his 2025-26 salary that he will likely get back on the open market according to Sean Highkin of the Rose Report.
The fact that Ayton is looking to move on does not come as a surprise after the Blazers used their past two first round picks on centers Donovan Clingan and Hansen Yang, effectively signaling that Ayton was not a part of the future there. The Celtics are not expected to have interest in Ayton per sources at this point with their priority being retaining their own free agent centers in Luke Kornet and Al Horford. However, Ayton’s availability could have a bit of a domino effect on the center free agent market that’s set to begin Monday night.
Ayton’s availability adds some depth to a relatively shallow free agent big pool that features Brook Lopez, Myles Turner, Guerschon Yabusele and Clint Capela as some of the top potential targets along with Horford and Kornet.
There are several teams around the league in the market for a center (Hornets, Clippers, Spurs) and could spend their full mid-level exception on a player. A host of other teams have access to the taxpayer midlevel (Lakers, Knicks, Nuggets) and will be shopping for either a starter or a backup. Barring one of those full mid-level teams taking a swing on Ayton for that money, it’s hard to envision Ayton’s arrival on the market impacting things too much for Kornet and Horford.
If Horford elects to leave Boston for more money or a better chance at a ring, he’s going to have plenty of suitors across the board in all likelihood at the taxpayer mid-level exception. Ayton’s presence isn’t going to change that even if takes one less team off the board for Horford since there will be a lot of contenders lining up for the veteran at that price tag.
Kornet’s market appears to be strong enough as well where a couple of teams are willing to offer him some of their mid-level exception money (Spurs and Clippers are rumored) that he shouldn’t lose much leverage with Ayton’s unexpected availability.
The Celtics have Bird Rights on both Horford and Kornet so they can technically offer them whatever they want under CBA rules. However, it’s unclear how much the Celtics will be willing to spend on either if getting under the luxury tax line ends up being a priority for the franchise. Handing out a market value deal to Kornet or Horford may prevent the Celtics from being able to accomplish (depending on the rest of the trade market).
Ultimately, the Celtics need to hope their own centers want to stay put in Boston at a discount since Ayton’s presence shouldn’t make a big impact on the market.