Despite a patchy start that hardly fulfilled his promise of a “DominAyton” season in 2023-24, Portland Trail Blazers starting center Deandre Ayton still wrapped up his first run in Rip City with totally respectable fantasy basketball numbers — outside of one critical stat: availability. The 7-foot big man out of Arizona appeared in just 55 contests last year, but logged a fairly efficient double-double of 16.7 points on 57 percent field goal shooting and 82.3 percent foul line shooting, along with 11.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.8 blocks a night.
The Portland vet also submitted monster numbers during the 2023-24 season’s final two months. Was it a fluke? Will he survive the year with the team, or will Portland general manager Joe Cronin look to ditch the remaining $69.6 million owed on his contract in exchange for future draft equity and/or young players, with No. 7 draft pick Donovan Clingan presumably waiting in the wings for his job?
All that remains to be seen…