With Jaxson Hayes re-spraining his right ankle, the Lakers big will miss the first few weeks of action in December.
The depth at the center spot will be very slim for L.A. with Jaxson Hayes out for two to three weeks due to the Lakers big re-injuring his right ankle. ESPN’s Shams Charania and Dave McMenamin were the first to report.
Lakers center Jaxson Hayes suffered a re-sprain of his right ankle and will miss two to three weeks, sources tell me and @mcten. pic.twitter.com/Qr8GRF3NLD
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 30, 2024
Hayes hurt his ankle on an attempt at the basket in the closing minutes of the Lakers’ matchup against the Suns on Nov. 26. The same ankle he sprained against the Raptors on Nov. 10 that kept him out for six games.
Unfortunately, Hayes has re-injured himself, but sometimes you’re just unlucky.
Hayes is L.A.'s primary backup big, averaging 6.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game.
With him out for a few weeks and Christian Wood unavailable until mid-December due to a setback with his knee surgery recovery, the only big the Lakers have available is two-way player Christian Koloko.
The Lakers have asked a lot of Koloko, but he’s played well, scoring 22 points and grabbing 18 rebounds across 10 games.
Besides Koloko stepping up this means even more responsibility will be put on Anthony Davis.
That’s tough, given that AD is already doing everything he can to help L.A. win games. He is currently averaging 28.4 points, 11.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists. AD is also playing a team-high 35.3 minutes per game.
Injuries happen, but it’s been clear since the summer that the Lakers needed more bigs and they’ve never addressed this issue.
Lakers coach JJ Redick acknowledged this in July, mentioning the team wanting to add a “big, bruising” center, but they never did.
There have been some reports that the Lakers are interested in centers such as Jonas Valančiūnas and Brook Lopez, but trades are hard to execute and it’s unlikely anything will happen while Hayes is out.
In the meantime, the Lakers will have to tread water and try to win games during this tough slate of upcoming matches.
Hopefully, vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka can fix this before the trade deadline on Feb. 6.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.
