Deandre Ayton’s frustrations have once again fallen flat. After faulting his playmakers for the lack of assists, he’s now made a questionable comparison. Not only did Clint Capela take offense, the guys at NBA on Prime were not impressed. While Lakers faithful are starting to blame Ayton for holding the team back, Blake Griffin and his colleagues had a warning for the big man.

The Lakers have been pushing for DA to catch more lobs and rebound more as they want to improve defensively.  According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, after a 21-point and 13-rebound performance against the Orlando Magic in a loss, Ayton was overheard shouting in the locker room after the game, “They’re trying to make me Clint Capela. I’m not no Clint Capela!”

The controversy took center stage on the Prime postgame show. Blake Griffin, Dirk Nowitzki, and Steve Nash were baffled by his comment because Capela is arguably the most adaptable center and versatile role player between his two Rockets stints. But it was Griffin who slammed Ayton’s attitude.

“Listen, as NBA players, you have to evolve,” Griffin said. “You’re playing with Luka Dončić, who gifts centers points every game. Evolve. Figure out a way to be efficient.” Griffin punctuated his advice with an ultimatum: “Adapt or die.”

It’s worth noting that Blake Griffin is DA’s most vocal critic. Previously, he showed disappointment that Ayton is not doing the necessary things to move the needle for the Lakers.

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“He’s got like that next gear to go to where he doesn’t have to be a 25 and 15 guy. He just needs to be a 12 and 12 and make the right play guy. And it will go so far for Luka [Doncic], it will go so far for the Lakers, their defense, everything. So that was a little bit disappointing. I don’t know that I was expecting a huge turnaround from the Ayton that we’ve seen over the years, but that’s what I saw,” Griffin had said at the start of the season.

Clearly, he’s not seen Deandre Ayton make the change between October 2025 and February 2026.

Blake Griffin & Co. don’t see the Deandre Ayton-Clint Capela comparison

Over a month ago, Deandre Ayton blamed LeBron James and Luka Doncic for not getting enough touches. Just when JJ Redick’s staff is expecting him to be a lob-catching, rim-protecting big, Ayton has shown reluctance. However, his offensive output has been too inconsistent to prioritize. On Thursday night, he had only 2 points and 4 rebounds against the Suns.

So when he makes an unviable comment about Clint Capela, it was not welcome. Capela himself slammed the backhanded shoutout on Instagram writing, “You got 2 of the best floor general in the game my dawg. Lockinnn 🤣🤣.”

Capela is known to embrace the backup role with consistent numbers. James Harden used to favor him when passing, making the Houston Rockets design their tactics around both of them.

Dirk Nowitzki was displeased that Ayton would use a player of Capela’s calibre negatively, going as far as to say, “You don’t have to name another NBA player that’s actually having a really solid career. Clint’s been around forever. He’s a super good player.”

Lakers fans agreed too and actually wished they had Capela instead of Ayton. Once more, Deandre Ayton’s desire to be featured more in the mid-range and post is alienating him from a fanbase. As Griffin said, his inability to adapt is out of touch with modern winning basketball.