在3月初客场不敌丹佛掘金的比赛后，德安德烈·艾顿做出了一个决定。
他不想再成为拖累球队的那个人，也不再纠结个人表现，而是把全部注意力放在“如何帮助球队赢球”上。同时，他也不想再把上场打关键比赛的机会视作理所当然。
就在近期状态有所回升的一周后，艾顿在周一对阵火箭的比赛中一度被按在板凳上——对面的火箭中锋克林特·卡佩拉率先找到节奏、影响比赛。但当湖人在篮板球上被压制、急需内线支撑时，主教练雷迪克重新启用了这位首发中锋。而艾顿也做出了赢球贡献——就像此前对阵尼克斯、森林狼和掘金的比赛一样。他并没有因为长时间坐在替补席而失去专注，而是始终做好准备。
“我跟你说，以往我坐那么久，通常就意味着我的比赛结束了。”艾顿笑着说，“就像‘你被换下肯定有原因，好好想想吧。’但最近变成了，‘不，DA（艾顿），你可以的。’而我已经完全投入了，100%，甚至110%。我希望你们能看到我的改变。”
本赛季，艾顿的表现起伏明显，湖人也在不断尝试不同阵容。有时候，收官阶段艾顿会坐板凳，海斯或克勒贝尔在场，甚至湖人会直接打无中锋阵容。但即便如此，艾顿仍在努力找回状态、重新融入体系。
湖人并不需要艾顿成为进攻核心，也不需要他频繁在挡拆中接球投中距离。他们需要的是：防守端的积极性、保护后场篮板，以及通过掩护、顺下和拼抢篮板为球队创造更好的进攻机会。
这些往往不会完全体现在数据栏里，而艾顿正在学着如何在不扮演进攻核心的情况下影响比赛。
“确实是。”艾顿谈到得分时说，“但我已经把这个放下了。我告诉自己，球队不需要你靠得分去证明什么，而是要把进攻端的能量带到防守上。我开始看着镜子中的自己说，‘兄弟，你不是那种需要这样打的球员。这支球队需要你去拼，去终结回合，去抢篮板，去全力跑动，让对方内线难受，让超级球星打得困难。’说实话，我现在很享受这一切。”
随着季后赛临近，艾顿正逐渐成为湖人阵容中的“X因素”。他也坦言，过去自己并没有一直做到这一点，但现在已经完成调整。
“教练一直在强调，现在就是季后赛氛围，我们在为季后赛门票而战。”艾顿说，“你能看到勒布朗、卢卡，所有人都完全投入了，而我不想再成为那个掉队的人。我之前也说过，其实只是我终于跟上了球队的节奏。球队早就准备好了，只是我还没就位。”
目前湖人队的战绩为43胜25负，他们已经取得6连胜，近10场赢下9场。
而艾顿正在享受自己的新角色：“我真的很喜欢球队现在对我的信任。我不想失去这种信任，这才是让我最兴奋的事情，现在我在场下都坐不住，时刻等着重新上场。说到底，就是重新找回打球的快乐。”
（文/柴夫）
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