The Los Angeles Lakers announced Jaxson Hayes (left foot soreness) has been downgraded to out for Tuesday night’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Hayes was not previously on the injury report and was seen working out of the court at Crypto.com Arena pregame before eventually being ruled out. It remains to be seen if it is a serious or minor issue for Hayes, but he is the latest of numerous Lakers players to wind up on the injury report.
Against Oklahoma City on Tuesday night, the team will be without four starters in addition to Hayes as LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and Marcus Smart have all been ruled out. That is the team’s top four playmakers and arguably their most important bench player.
That will make their task of hanging with the top-seeded Thunder that much more difficult as they lost by 43 in Oklahoma City with basically everyone in the lineup just last week.
With only four regular season games remaining though, the main focus for the Lakers is getting as many of these injured players healthy as quickly as possible to be ready to go for the start of the postseason.
Now that Hayes has been ruled out, the Lakers are extremely thin in the frountcourt behind Deandre Ayton. Maxi Kleber will likely get some backup center minutes while Drew Timme and Jarred Vanderbilt could get some time as well.
In 66 games (nine starts) for the Lakers this season, Hayes is averaging 7.5 points and 4.1 rebounds while shooting 75.6% from the field in 18.3 minutes per game.
JJ Redick pleased with Jaxson Hayes’ growth this season
This injury comes at an unfortunate time for Hayes, in particular, as he has been playing the best basketball of his career this season, recently earning praise from head coach JJ Redick.
”Jaxson’s had a really good season,” Redick said after the team’s recent win over the New Orleans Pelicans. “I know I played with him his first two years. He’s a better basketball player. He’s gotten better.
“He’s making touch shots around the rim. He’s making great pocket decisions. He’s a good basketball player that, frankly, he consistently injects energy into the group when he runs the floor, blocks a shot or gets those dunks.”
Redick went away from Hayes in the postseason last year because of poor play, but that is unlikely to be the case this time around given the recent strides he has shown.
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