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“It fills me.” Lakers’ Deandre Ayton gives back to the kids in the community

Welcome back to this week’s Lakers newsletter, where we see how philanthropic Deandre Ayton has been and what the future holds for their front office.

### All things Lakers, all the time.

The kids lined up on the basketball court at the National Basketball Players Assn. facility on Monday, groups on two sides with smiles on their faces, all of them patiently extending their arms as they waited for their guest to arrive.

When Lakers center Deandre Ayton peered through the glass and saw those kids, he smiled and shook his head before entering. He slowly walked down the line by each kid, doing his best to slap every hand or to at least make eye contact with them.

This was a basketball clinic Ayton and his Ayton Family Foundation had been inspired to do in partnership with the NBPA, an event that the Jamaican and Bahamian Consulates aided by sending about 50 kids to participate in on-court activities and a dinner on behalf of Ayton and his family.

“It fills me, for real, just seeing their smiles,” Ayton said. “And me being out there. You saw me going at it against one of them. He’s about 6-4 and he tried to get at me. I’m like, ‘Whoa … Whoa. Bro. I got to keep these legs strong.’ In about 10 years, they are going to be knocking me over. They are ready and I’m loving it and they so hip to the game and they know the terminology so I just loved it, man.”

Some of those kids got to see Ayton at his job of playing center for the Lakers against the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night at Barclays Center.

They saw Ayton at his efficient best, shooting three for five from the field for seven points to go along with eight rebounds and three assists.

On the Lakers just-completed East Coast trip, Ayton seemingly made every shot.

He was six-for-six shooting with 13 points against the New York Knicks and 12-for-14 shooting with 28 points against the Washington Wizards.

Shooting a high percentage has been the essence of Ayton’s season — he is making 67.6% of his shots, the second-best mark in the NBA. He’s averaging 13.4 points and 8.4 rebounds.

"It fills me, for real, just seeing their smiles,” Deandre Ayton said.

“It fills me, for real, just seeing their smiles,” Deandre Ayton said.

(Los Angeles Lakers)

So, sharing his wisdom with the kids about the game of basketball was cathartic for Ayton.

“Just having guys in my position visiting these camps, they don’t know how much they are doing for them, just to be in their presence and in their environment. Just giving a kid a high-five, you could feel the power and the energy of how excited they are,” Ayton said. “They are on you like white on rice, watching your every move, wanting to know what you say, and it’s just so inspiring because I was just like that.

“There were guys that came and visited the camps when I was growing up in the Bahamas and just being inspired by them and wanting to know who are they and why they are so good to make it look so easy. It’s nothing to me to come back here and do it. That’s just who I am. I want to let them know that they can do it as well and however they grew up, everybody can move on from that and be motivated, self-motivated as well.”

The Lakers spent four days in New York while playing the Knicks and Nets. Ayton could have been doing anything he wanted in the city during two days off.

Yet, he chose to use some of his free time to help run a camp for some youths who probably can’t afford to attend one.

“I ain’t going to lie. It’s just I don’t have a reason why I’m doing it,” he said. “It’s just something that I wanted to do. I found that it was the time and the right time as well to be in New York City and just how the culture is out here as well. So, they know how the Jamaican, Caribbean people are. I don’t know. Just having the NBPA behind me and the headquarters being here. I think it was just the right spot, to be honest.”

Chris Jean, the NBPA associate vice president for Elite Youth & Basketball Activation, encourages all their members to give back to the community.

“It just highlights who he is as a player and as a person,” Jean said about Ayton. “He’s doing a lot of great things in Jamaica and the Bahamas and in his community like that. So, it just makes us all feel better and easier to support him.”

Ayton won the NBA Cares Bob Lanier Community Assist Award for November 2025, recognized for his philanthropic efforts in providing hurricane relief in Jamaica and supporting youth in L.A.

Ayton said his mom, Andrea Ayton, is the backbone of his family and that she was always doing community work and helping others in the Bahamas.

His efforts are an extension of his mother.

“Yeah, mom started all that, that giving stuff, that just feeding the village, being that leader by action,” Ayton said. “I would say her love language was caring and feeding tummies, whether you’re hungry or not, it didn’t matter. It’s just her basically showing her love and it got to this point to where we’re doing more than that. We’re on a platform and a position where we’re so blessed. We can help people financially as well.”

Before Ayton started the drills with the kids at the clinic, dignitaries from the Jamaican and Bahamian Consulates presented Ayton with a proclamation, thanking him for his generosity and kindness.

It made his day that more emotional.

“I was stretching in the hallway and stuff like that when I saw the executives and meeting them, I said, ‘Yo, this is bigger than I thought. This just not no camp,’‘’ Ayton said. “And then this speech and I was just like, ‘Yo, I feel so special.’

“It was a moment I’m not going to forget as well, everybody just thanking me. It was a lot. It was overwhelming. I’m not going to lie. That was an overwhelming moment that I’m going to truly embrace.”

Dodgers influence on Lakers

The assumption from NBA executives and scouts is that the Lakers have the best template on how to improve and have one of the best front offices in the league because the new owner, who also owns the Dodgers, Mark Walter, has built a successful baseball team and will mold the Lakers the same way.

Walter, who purchased the Lakers for a $10-billion valuation and is the chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners, has won three World Series with the Dodgers since buying the team, in 2020 and back-to-back in 2024 and 2025. He has one of MLB’s best front offices, led by president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman.

Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka will lean on the advice from Friedman on ways to improve his front office, which is considered one of the smallest in the NBA.

According to NBA scouts who were not authorized to speak on the matter, the Lakers will revamp their scouting department and will look for scouts with an analytical background.

When Jeanie Buss, who remained on the team’s board of governors for the Lakers after the sale, fired her brothers, Joey Buss and Jesse Buss, it was the start of the team reorganizing the basketball department.

Jesse Buss was the Lakers’ assistant general manager and director of scouting. The Lakers also dismissed much of their scouting department.

So, the NBA executives and scouts have said, they expect the Lakers to start making changes to their infrastructure and that will start with the scouts and the front office.

“Yeah, so when Mark bought the team, Jeanie and I did a really deep dive with him on sort of the areas he wants to grow and move into and get aggressive,” Pelinka told the media last week. “And again, looking at the Dodgers and how they built it out has been a great sort of example and North Star. And so we’re still going through that process of how we’ll look in the offseason and what additions we’ll make. But there will be some positive changes and we will build things out, again, led by myself and Jeanie, and with Mark’s support.”

On Tap

Feb. 10 vs Spurs (36-16), 7:30 p.m.

The Spurs have the second-best record in the Western Conference and have won four consecutive games. All-Star Victor Wembanyama leads the Spurs in scoring (23.9), rebounds (11.1) and blocks (2.7) and Stephon Castle leads the Spurs in assists (7.0).

Feb. 12 vs. Mavericks (19-33), 7 p.m.

It’s the Lakers last game before the All-Star festivities begin Friday. The Mavericks are all-in on rookie Cooper Flagg after trading Anthony Davis to the Washington Wizards. Flagg leads the Mavericks in scoring (20.3) and is averaging 6.6 rebounds while shooting 48.4% from the field.

Status report

Luka Doncic (mild left hamstring strain)

Doncic missed his second straight game against the Thunder and has been listed as day to day. The Lakers have said Doncic wants to play against the Mavericks, the team that traded him away last February, and in the All-Star Game.

Rookie Adou Thiero (right MCL sprain)

Thiero remains out, but has made progress, even practicing with the South Bay Lakers recently.

Survey says

We asked “Do you want LeBron James to return to the Lakers next season?”

After 801 votes, the results:

Yes, 39.9%

No, 60.1%

Favorite thing I ate this week

Pizza from Casa Doner Kebab & Pizza.

(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)

Ciao! It’s Thuc Nhi again from Milan. I have systematically been trying to cover all the food groups here in Italy because my mother taught me the importance of a well-balanced diet. By food groups, I mean pasta, pizza, risotto, tiramisu, gelato and espresso. The early leader is an unexpected fusion that confused me at first. Then pizza kebab sounded like the perfect amount of crazy.

Because there is very little down time during the Olympics, how I like to explore a city here is stopping at a different stop on the subway line on the way to my event every day. I try to have lunch in a new place and walk around the surrounding area before jumping back on the subway and going to work. That’s how I found Casa Doner Kebab & Pizza, which is near the San Babila metro stop. You loyal readers know my transgressions when it comes to pizza — I’m not apologizing for that naan pizza — but what’s not to like about two good things becoming one great thing? More is more.