From his late days with the Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers starting center Deandre Ayton has carried a — what one might call — unfavorable reputation with the media that followed him to his new franchise, fair or unfair.
The media tagged Ayton with complaints about motor and character in Phoenix. Then this season started with a flood of negative early reviews about ineffective play, followed by the national outcry over a snow day, a controversial blasting from The Athletic’s Jason Quick that defined Ayton’s early Portland tenure by “tardiness and tantrums,” and a national lampooning involving air mattresses.