The Los Angeles Lakers are staring at a 0-3 deficit against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder as they head into a must-win game on Monday evening.
And their big man, Deandre Ayton, is facing some serious criticism after a video of him unveiling his new chain gained additional traction on social media.
It’s a huge, sparkling necklace featuring “DominAyton” dangling from it, which Ayton presents as a nickname on social media. In addition to the large links, there is another big piece of the chain, possibly Ayton as a mythological figure, holding up the world on his shoulders.
The SamNYCLuxury Instagram account teased the new jewelry earlier this month, with the official chain reveal arriving last week.
On Monday, Bleacher Report shared a video spotlighting the NBA star as he looked at his new prized possession, hours ahead of his team’s crucial game.
It quickly racked up over 4,000 likes and 1,000-plus comments reacting to the expensive piece of jewelry.
In the video, the Lakers star seemed quite pleased with the item, but commenters on that X post roasted Ayton after seeing the fancy chain with its bold word and likely massive price tag.
“More like ‘HibernAyton during the playoffs!” a commenter wrote in replying to the upbeat video clip.
“Lakers should genuinely suspend him for this,” another individual commented, with multiple crying-laughing emojis.
“Dominate what lol you legitimately cannot catch the basketball,” someone wrote in the BR clip’s replies.
Another commented, “Man, the chain is cold af no cap but bro… timing is everything. Drop 20 & 15 with some boards and blocks tonight and nobody says a word.”
2025-26 was his first season as a member of the Lakers roster, after entering the league in 2018 as the No. 1 pick for the Phoenix Suns. He spent multiple seasons there, including their 2021 run to the NBA Finals, before joining Portland for two of his NBA seasons.
Despite appearing in 72 games this past season, Ayton had his worst statistical season in terms of scoring, rebounding, assists, and blocks. He also played only 26.2 minutes a game, the least of his career.
Ayton’s playoff performances haven’t been terrible against the Thunder, as he achieved double-doubles in Games 1 and 2. The issue is that it’s not enough against a team at the level of Oklahoma City, which has been the one dominating Ayton and the Lakers.
OKC has shown the opposite: they’re a deeper all-around team that can withstand second-leading scorer Jalen Williams not playing in the series due to injury and leading scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander getting into foul trouble during Game 2.
Basically, Los Angeles will need a lot more to stave off an elimination on Monday night, and even if they do that, it will take a whole lot more to climb out of the hole they’re in against OKC without Luka Doncic.
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