Deandre Ayton
Albatross risk — −$4.8M on $8.0M still owed
Deandre Ayton projects to 2.0 marginal wins — $7.2M of on-court value — against an apron-adjusted true cost of $12.0M.
Albatross risk — −$4.8M on $8.0M still owed
The verdict swings from −$10.2M (bear) to +$1.5M (bull) — too assumption-sensitive to move on; let another season of data settle the call.
For $8.0M this season (1 yr, $8.0M total), you are buying 2.0 marginal wins of EPM production — $7.2M of value at $3.5M/win. Against an apron-adjusted true cost of $12.0M, that nets −$4.8M of surplus, 72nd of 178 tracked contracts — it grades as an albatross.
If wins price up toward $4.2M/win and the apron tax eases, production value climbs to $11.5M and surplus swings to +$1.5M — fair value in the optimistic case.
If a marginal win is worth less and the apron bites harder, true cost rises to $14.0M and surplus falls to −$10.2M — an albatross in the pessimistic case; the verdict flips across the band.
Caution — the verdict flips somewhere across bear/base/bull assumptions. This call is assumption-sensitive, not settled.
This call changes under bear assumptions: Deandre Ayton grades Albatross risk in the bear case but Fairly pricedin the bull case — treat the verdict above as a live read of today’s sliders, not a settled fact.
The market's own numbers: a win costs what the middle of the league pays for it.
Every apron dollar is real money — the tax ledger, not the highlight reel, decides who wins the summer.
Banners hang forever. A marginal win today is worth almost any tomorrow, and the tax is the cost of doing business.
Wins you buy before you're ready are the most expensive wins in basketball — flexibility is the only asset that never ages.
The tenth man is closer to the star than the star's agent admits — pay for scarcity you can prove, not reputation.
1 of 5 desks disagree with the verdict above — that disagreement is the story.
Take the question to the docket →Similar money band ($8.0M vs $8.0M) and impact (-0.5 vs -0.5); his deal grades fairly priced at −$0.8M.
Similar money band ($8.0M vs $8.0M) and impact (-0.5 vs -0.5); his deal grades fairly priced at −$0.8M.
Similar money band ($8.0M vs $8.0M) and impact (-0.5 vs -0.5); his deal grades albatross risk at −$4.8M.
How the model gets there.
The audit trail behind every figure in the memo above — six steps from raw on-court impact to the final surplus verdict, using the same sliders. Drag any assumption and the memo above updates with it.
AASV = wins × $/win − cap hit × apron multiplier. Set the knobs to your own front-office judgment — every number on this page updates live.
League estimated net rating (per 100 poss. vs. an average player), cached from stats.nba.com (seed snapshot).
Est. Impact = -0.5 · 2025-26 · 70 games · 2,000 minutes
Impact is credited above replacement level (-2.0), scaled by the possessions he actually played (minutes × 2.08/min), then converted at 30.5 net points per win.
(-0.5 − (-2.0)) × 4,167 poss ÷ 100 = 63 net pts
63 ÷ 30.5 = 2.0 wins
Wins are priced at your $/win setting ($3.5M per win).
2.0 wins × $3.5M = $7.2M
LAL is a first apron team, so every Deandre Ayton dollar is charged at 1.50× — your setting for what that tier’s tax and roster restrictions really cost. Contract: 1 yr · $8.0M remaining.
$8.0M cap hit × 1.50 = $12.0M
$7.2M − $12.0M = −$4.8M
Deandre Ayton costs more than he produces under these assumptions — the contract eats value.
First season on file — the trend view, and its tie-in to aging risk, unlocks once another season lands.