Jaxson Hayes has become the Los Angeles Lakers’ trusted big man off the bench over the past few weeks. The highly athletic and energetic center has done an excellent job doing what he does well such as rebounding, protecting the rim and finishing at the basket. The latter of those is helped immensely by playing with point guard D’Angelo Russell.
Hayes isn’t a player who can create his own offense as he is a classic rim-running big man, which fits perfectly with Russell, who is at his best when operating out of the pick-and-roll. As such, the two have developed a good chemistry with Russell often finding Hayes for easy buckets.
That was on display again on Sunday night as Hayes finished with nine points and five rebounds on a perfect 4-of-4 from the field. Afterwards, he discussed that chemistry he has with Russell and how much it helps him thrive offensively.
“Shoot, y’all have seen it,” Hayes said after the Lakers’ 11-point win over the Timberwolves. “He’s such a threat offensively that it’s just great playing pick-and-roll with him because if he comes off open then most likely the big is gonna slide over to him and I’m gonna be wide open for a dunk or if I come off open for the lob, then he just gets straight to the rim every time.
“We’ve kind of got a nice rapport on that and we have a few certain plays that we like to run whenever we’re in the game just to get to that or get to our spacing with that. It just helps a lot when you have such an offensive threat like that.”
Hayes is a players in the mold of former Lakers center JaVale McGee, so he needs someone to feed him for easy buckets. Russell is so good with his vision and passing, not to mention the threat of him scoring, that it makes it easy for Hayes to find his spots when rolling to the basket and benefit from the attention Russell draws.
“It’s good. Short teaser for everybody,” Russell said of his chemistry with Hayes. “I think he’s exciting in the pick-and-roll, he adds a different dynamic than AD. It just gives us a different look, and then you put both of them out there and I just feel like I’m having a field day with those two bigs. They complement each other so well. It’s just exciting. I always appreciate a hard roller. AD is a little more dynamic, can do both and a lot of different things, but I think Jaxson is a more of a limited roller that can dominate that space too. So I always appreciate those too.”
Russell and Hayes is an ideal pairing and the duo have found their stride together, putting the opposition in a no-win situation more often than not.
Jaxson Hayes talks what he wants to learn most from Lakers teammate Anthony Davis
As a former lottery pick, Jaxson Hayes hasn’t quite lived up to the expectations some had of him coming out of college. But he has shown great improvements this season with the Lakers and being able to learn from one of the best bigs in the NBA in Anthony Davis is helping in his development. As far as what he’s focused on picking up from Davis, Hayes said the main focus is on the defensive end.
“The biggest thing for me is just the non-fouling,” Hayes added. “That’s the biggest thing we’ve been working on since I got here, just keeping my verticality.
“What he does really well is get verticality and then he gets back into the play for maybe another block or another rebound. That’s something I’m trying to work on with him, just how to get my verticality so I don’t go flying back and I can actually stay in the play. But just little things like that, his post work, his isos, his middys. Just little footwork stuff I can take from him, trying to learn as much as I can.”
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