Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton knows that fans feel he hasn't lived up to his billing. Ayton doesn't see it that way.

“I got nothing to prove in this league,” Ayton told Basketball Intelligence. “I’m a max player, and I’ll continue to be a max player.”

Ayton signed a maximum offer sheet with the Indiana Pacers in the summer of 2022. The Phoenix Suns matched that offer sheet, and a year later traded Ayton to the Trail Blazers.

Ayton says he's focused on doing the little things to help Portland win.

“I’m letting them know how teams respect me in this league to where they can benefit off of it. I don’t always have to be a scorer or an offensive-minded big night in and night out,” Ayton said. “But just the work that I’ve been putting into with this league, teams overreact to everything that I do on the offensive end, whether it’s a roll to the basket, crashing the glass, setting good screens, slipping screens. They’re going to react with you just putting pressure on that rim. Our guys should just learn how to play point-five actions where it’s catch-and-shoot or it’s making a play for your teammate.”