He attended Etiwanda High School in Rancho Cucamonga, California and played college basketball for Arizona State University.

[3] Ayres attended Arizona State for four seasons, finishing with career averages of 12.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.04 blocked shots and a 58.0 percent shooting accuracy.

[4] On September 8, he signed a contract with the Trail Blazers and joined them for the 2009 Summer League, starting all five games and averaging 10.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 1.2 blocked shots.

[4] On December 22, he made his NBA debut in an 85–81 win against the Dallas Mavericks, in which he scored 2 points in 4 minutes of playing time.

[8] He was waived by the Trail Blazers prior to the start of the 2011 season after suffering a season-ending knee injury during a pre-season game against the Utah Jazz.

On July 11, 2013, Ayres signed with the San Antonio Spurs[13] and made his debut on October 30 in a 101–94 win against the Memphis Grizzlies, recording two points, two rebounds, two assists and one block in 11 minutes of playing time.

[16] On November 13, he made his debut with Idaho in a 110–106 loss to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, recording 18 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block and one steal in 39 minutes of action.

[22] On March 4, 2016, Idaho traded Ayres to the Los Angeles D-Fenders in exchange for a 2016 first-round draft pick.

[23] The next day, he made his debut for the D-Fenders in a 127–117 win over the Texas Legends, recording 16 points and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes off the bench.

Team Challenge ALS made it to the West Regional Championship Game before falling to eventual tournament runner-up Eberlein Drive.