Ayton joked: My former teammates have been trash-talking me. Avdija provokes me every time he scores a goal.

In the NBA regular season, the Lakers lost to the Trail Blazers 108-122.

After the game, Ayton accepted an interview with reporters. Talking about playing against his former teammates, he said: "They were trash-talking me throughout the game, especially Avdija, who deliberately provoked me every time he made a shot."

In this game, Lakers center Ayton played very actively on the offensive end, and also tried his best on the defensive end. He started for 36 minutes, scored 16 points on 8-of-15 shots, 8 rebounds (5 offensive rebounds), 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block, with a plus-minus value of -10.