DeAndre Ayton didn't get off to a great start with the
Portland Trail Blazers and he received a lot of criticism and backlash at the beginning of the season. He wasn't playing like the dominant big man he can be.
And now Ayton is giving the reason for that: he was sleeping on an air mattress at the start of the 2023-24 season.
Speaking with Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian, he opened up about his early days in Portland and how he wasn't living up to the hype.
"My body wasn't just my body," he said. "People forget the humane difference of me adjusting to everything.
He added, "Just being comfortable in waking up. I didn't have a bed for quite some time. I was on an air mattress. Just trying to figure this out."
Moving to a new location in the NBA is hard for a number of reasons. Anyone who has had to pack up their stuff and settle across the country knows that. But Ayton wasn't just tasked with moving, he was also supposed to greatly improve the Trail Blazers' defense instantly, something he did not do.
In November, Ayton was recording 14.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game and was looking rather lackluster and out of energy. But that has changed recently. Since the All-Star break, he has averaged 24.5 points and 14.2 assists per game and has improved his shooting to 64.3% from the field.
Although the Blazers are still in bad shape, the Ayton trade is looking a lot better now that he's looking more comfortable on the court. And that might be because he is more comfortable when he's at home, sleeping in his bed.
