Bahamian big man DeAndre Ayton is all set to join the Los Angeles Lakers’ roster for the upcoming 2025-26 National Basketball Association (NBA) season, and two-time NBA champion with the Lakers Mychal ‘Sweet Bells’ Thompson is optimistic about Ayton’s title chances with the team.
Ayton will be the third Bahamian to suit up for the storied franchise, joining Thompson and Rick Fox, who both won NBA championships in the purple and gold uniform.
The Bahamian center joined the team via the buyout market on a two-year deal valued at $18.6 million, with a player option for the second season.
Bahamian basketball legend Thompson, who was the first foreign-born player to be drafted number one overall in the NBA, said the Lakers will really improve with Ayton manning the paint.
“I was very excited. Every time the Lakers bring a Bahamian on the team, they win rings like me and Rick Fox. I think DeAndre is set up to be that third player to bring a championship as a Bahamian to The Bahamas and to the Lakers. The Lakers adding him really improves the team a lot. DeAndre has the ability to be one of the top five centers in the NBA. He really has that much skill, and he is that good. He just has to be more consistent with his play and play with a bit more fire in his belly and I think we will see that from him now that he is a Laker because when you put on that Laker uniform much is expected of you. He has an opportunity to carry out the tradition of great Laker centers who have worn that uniform. I think playing with LeBron and Luka Dončić is really gonna inspire and motivate him to play up to his abilities,” said Thompson.
Thompson and Ayton have something in common. They were both taken number one overall in the NBA Draft — Thompson in 1978 and Ayton in 2018.
With the rebuilding Portland Trail Blazers last season, Ayton averaged 14.4 points and 10 rebounds per game while shooting 56.6 percent from the field in 40 games played.
He has been relatively consistent with his production at the center position over seven seasons in the league.
The 26-year-old has averaged a double-double in each of his seven NBA seasons and is the first player since NBA champion Dwight Howard to average at least 10 points and 10 rebounds in each of his first seven seasons.
Additionally, he is one of only four players to average at least 10 points and 10 rebounds over the last seven seasons. That list includes former league Most Valuable Player (MVP) Giannis Antetokounmpo, Rudy Gobert of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Nikola Vučević, who plays for the Chicago Bulls.
Thompson believes that with Ayton playing for the Lakers alongside NBA superstars Dončić and James, the sky is the limit for the Bahamian center.
“I expect him to play at an all-star level… He has all-star abilities and all-star skills. He is the kind of guy who can average 20 points and 12 rebounds a game… DeAndre is very skilled and a lot of people have forgotten about that because he sort of played in obscurity last year in Portland, and he still had some very good games,” said Thompson. “Now he is gonna be in the biggest and brightest spotlight in basketball in the world playing for the Lakers and I think that is gonna really motivate him to take his game to the next level.”
The seven-foot center is expected to make an immediate impact in the Lakers’ frontcourt after they shipped out Anthony Davis in a midseason blockbuster trade that brought Dončić to the team last season.
The Lakers ultimately fell to the Timberwolves, 4–1, in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs in the NBA.
The team was exposed in the frontcourt in the final game of the series, as Gobert exploded for 27 points and 24 rebounds to complete a gentleman’s sweep.