The Los Angeles Lakers’ weakness in the frontcourt is well known as Jaxson Hayes is the team’s lone true center. But he has yet to make much of an impact in this playoff series so far, averaging under nine minutes per game with head coach JJ Redick preferring to go small for the majority of the time.
With the Lakers now trailing 2-1 in the series after Friday night’s Game 3 loss, there are some wondering whether the Lakers might just abandon the Hayes minutes altogether and just go small from the beginning. And Redick didn’t rule out that possibility.
He made it clear that the Lakers still believe in Hayes and what he can bring to this team, but Redick will look at everything in order to help the Lakers get back in this series, via Jovan Buha of The Athletic:
JJ Redick on if he’s considering benching starting center Jaxson Hayes: “We’ll look at everything but we still believe in Jaxson.”
Hayes has yet to crack double-digit minutes in the series.
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) April 26, 2025
There is no doubt that Hayes had some strong performances throughout the regular season and really stepped up once elevated into the starting lineup following the Luka Doncic trade. But he is limited as a player and Redick clearly prefers the smaller lineups, replacing Hayes with Dorian Finney-Smith to spread out Minnesota’s defense.
There is still some value in having Hayes out there, as Timberwolves wing Jaden McDaniels noted, especially against a team this physical. But this just doesn’t seem to be a series in which Hayes can really impact things and the Lakers might be better suited just going without a true big.
The Lakers will surely look to address the center position in the offseason, but that does nothing to change things for this series and Redick will have to make a decision on whether or not to keep putting Hayes out there or fully embrace the smaller lineups and trust Finney-Smith, Jarred Vanderbilt and Rui Hachimura to man the middle.
JJ Redick critical of Lakers’ turnovers in Game 3 loss
Regardless of whether Jaxson Hayes is playing big minutes or not, one thing the Lakers must do if they plan on getting back in this series is take better care of the ball. The Lakers had 16 turnovers in their Game 3 loss and JJ Redick was critical of his team for their failures to hold on to the ball.
The Lakers coach credited the Timberwolves for forcing some of those Lakers’ miscues, but also felt many of their turnovers were unforced with L.A. simply trying to do too much. Redick added that he felt the Lakers generated good looks on offense overall, but the turnovers were just too much to overcome.
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