There are more than depth chart issues behind the Trail Blazers cutting ties with Deandre Ayton.
The former first overall pick in 2018 by the Suns now has to find a new team after being bought out of his contract with Portland on Monday.
The writing was on the wall when the Trail Blazers used their first-round pick this year to take Chinese center prospect Yang Hansen.
What the public didn’t know, however, was that Ayton’s attitude and temper were repoterdly even bigger reasons for his departure from Portland.
According to The Athletic, several issues happened behind the scenes, and the Blazers no longer wanted to deal with his “bad ways.”
This includes being late to team flights and practices and fans watching him slam chairs when he was taken out.
These emotions followed him into the locker room, where he would often have “tantrums” after poor performances, according to the report.
Before even touching the hardwood in Portland, Ayton referred to himself as “Domin-Ayton.”
He also might lack some work ethic, according to The Athletic, as evidenced by his statement to the media after being awarded a significant contract, in which he claimed there was nothing more to prove.
“I’m a max [contract] player and I’ll continue to be a max player.” Ayton said.
That confidence came back to haunt him as he lost a portion of the big contract in the buyout.
The Blazers decided that losing his reported baggage was more valuable than the money they had to eat.
Another team will likely take a chance to see if they can pull the talent out of the center.
When healthy, Ayton averaged a double-double with 14.4 points and 10.1 rebounds while playing in just 40 games last season.
