This article was originally published on www.si.com as Deandre Ayton Had One Big Reason for Wanting to Sign With the Lakers. The Los Angeles Lakers are putting the pieces together for their run in the coming 2025-26 NBA season.

NBA free agency is officially underway. Players were legally allowed to begin negotiating with teams across the league as of Monday evening, and there will be a flurry of activity this week. The most surprising free agency news to date happened Tuesday morning when the Bucks said they were signing big man Myles Turner,

The Knicks could have paired Ayton with Karl-Anthony Towns in their frontcourt, with Mitchell Robinson serving as the club’s backup center. Instead, the team went in a different direction, and Ayton opted to join Luka Doncic and LeBron James in Los Angeles.