The Los Angeles Lakers did not have backup big man Jaxson Hayes in the lineup when they took the floor against the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night. The reason for that is a one-game suspension that was doled out by the NBA because of his altercation with the Washington Wizards mascot last Friday.
The Lakers got the win against the 76ers anyways, but needed one of Maxi Kleber’s best games of the season off of head coach JJ Redick’s bench. It was certainly a bizarre situation and an odd suspension given out by the league, but Hayes chose not to fight it and instead took his one game off on Thursday.
Redick was asked to comment on Hayes’ suspension and the action that led to it, and he kept it very succinct in what he hopes for out of the whole ordeal.
“He made an error in judgment and he owned up to it and apologized,” Redick said. “Hopefully this is a learning opportunity for him.”
The NBA has always been strict about player engagement with non-athletes, stemming back from the Malice at the Palace fight between Detroit Pistons players and fans all the way back in 2004. That leads to harsher than expected punishments — like one game for pushing a mascot — even if it seems unnecessary on the surface.
If you love our reporting, choose LakersNation.com as a preferred source on Google.
As Redick says, hopefully Hayes learns how serious the league is about these kinds of altercations, and avoids anything that could be perceived as that type of behavior in the future.
The Lakers will have Hayes back for their next game on Saturday night against the Golden State Warriors.
JJ Redick praises Luke Kennard
The Lakers’ lone trade deadline move was acquiring sharpshooter Luke Kennard from the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Gabe Vincent and a 2032 second-round draft pick. Kennard is, percentage-wise, the best shooter in basketball. The criticism on him, though, is that he isn’t a very willing shooter, with only 3.2 attempts per game.
But Redick — who went to the same college as Kennard in Duke University — believes that the new guard is one of the best shooters in the league despite that.
“Excited about Luke,” Redick said. “I’ve known him, I guess for about 12 years now and I think he’s one of the best shooters in the NBA. I’m gonna highly encourage him to shoot more and not turn down shots. Because I think one of the underrated part of his game is his ability to move and create second actions and move the basketball. You’ve seen that now at a number of his stops where you can initiate the offense through an off-ball movement and he will just make the right play and sort of get the offense going. So he’ll be a corner threat and he’ll be an off-ball threat and we’re excited to have him.”
