There are tea leaves that may suggest that Deandre Ayton's time with the Portland Trail Blazers could be coming to a sudden end.
When the Portland Trail Blazers finalized a multi-team trade in which they sent Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks, Deandre Ayton was a big part of that deal coming to fruition. There's an argument he was the primary piece being traded to the Blazers with everything else emerging as pieces to dress up the package. The hope was that Ayton could find the second wind of his career and that he would excel with a change of scenery.
Through one season, that gamble by the Blazers hasn't paid off as perhaps they hoped it would. I don't think it's been remembered as a terrible move, but Ayton has been inconsistent through one season in Portland.
He completed his first season with the Blazers by posting the second-worst production totals of his career thus far, averaging 16 points and 11 rebounds on 57 percent shooting from the field. If it wasn't for his play over the last 15 games of the season, Ayton likely would've put up career-worst numbers.
The question is, is Ayton more of the player during the first three-quarters of the season or the player he looked like down the stretch? It's tough to predict considering how much he struggled with consistency over his final three seasons in Phoenix. But if Portland's moves this offseason are any indication, it would seem as if they're not completely sold on Ayton's long-term future with the team.
The Portland Trail Blazers drafted their center of the future
With the No. 7 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, the Blazers selected highly-touted center Donovan Clingan. For as much as you want to argue how Clingan fits on the Blazers, I'm not sure Portland selected him with the intention of him being the long-term answer at the backup center position.
You don't burn a top-10 pick on a player you don't eventually envision becoming a starter. With not so much words, the Blazers are essentially betting that they may end up trading Ayton in the near future which would make way for Clingan to take the reins as the starting center down the road.
With just two years remaining on his four-year deal, this is around the time to start paying attention to a potential Ayton trade market. If Portland does truly believe in Clingan being a foundational piece in the frontcourt, trading Ayton may not be that far off.
In fact, I'd predict that around the NBA Trade Deadline, if not before, the whispers surrounding a potential Ayton trade are going to arise. Quite frankly, with the uncertainty revolving around both Portland's rebuild and Ayton's inconsistent play, how can you blame them?