Lakers are trading Deandre Ayton to the Wizards

After the Los Angeles Lakers agreed to trade for center Walker Kessler on Wednesday, Deandre Ayton, their starting center this past season, looked like the odd man out. Some felt Ayton could make an excellent backup center, but there simply wasn't much playing time available for him.

>On Friday, the Lakers ended up agreeing to trade Ayton to the Washington Wizards for guard Jaden Hardy and two second-round draft picks in 2031 and 2031, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

"The Los Angeles Lakers are trading center Deandre Ayton to the Washington Wizards for guard Jaden Hardy and two second-round picks in 2031 and 2032, sources told ESPN's Shams Charania on Friday," McMenamin wrote.

Ayton came to Los Angeles last July after his previous contract was bought out by the Portland Trail Blazers. He averaged 12.5 points, 8.3 shot attempts, eight rebounds and 0.8 assists a game, and all of those figures were career lows for him. While he played well at times, his inconsistent motor, effort and focus resulted in him being viewed as a big disappointment.

>Hardy, who will turn 24 years of age this Sunday, is a 6-foot-3 guard who is an excellent 3-point shooter. In his four seasons in the NBA, he has hit 38.6% of his 3-point attempts, and he has averaged 3.6 3-point attempts in 14.9 minutes a game.

>After he was a second-round draft pick in 2022 following one year with the G League Ignite, he spent two and a half seasons alongside Luka Doncic on the Dallas Mavericks. Hardy was traded to the Wizards midway through this past season in the deal that brought them former Lakers superstar big man Anthony Davis.

>This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers are trading Deandre Ayton to the Wizards