The Los Angeles Lakers signing center Deandre Ayton to a two-year contract meant a return to the bench for big man Jaxson Hayes. The seven-footer excelled next to Luka Doncic immediately following the blockbuster trade last season, but proved that he cannot be a starting center in a championship-caliber rotation.
The hope from the Lakers that a return to his traditional bench role would allow him to maximize his talents and efforts, and that has mostly been the case this season. He broke past that and had one of his best games of the season on Friday night against the Memphis Grizzlies, though.
Hayes played 23 minutes, including crunch time, and finished with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting to go along with two steals and one block. He finished with almost the same playing time as Ayton, and head coach JJ Redick said after the game that he went with Hayes in the fourth quarter because he was simply playing better basketball.
Part of the reason for that is some of the improvements that Hayes has made to his game since last season. Doncic discussed what the biggest of those improvements are after the win.
“I think honestly the most improvement he did during the summer, I think was him just following us. With the pick-and-roll with me and Bron on the ball,” Doncic said. “I think just finding the right pocket, I think that’s his best improvement. Obviously, there is other stuff like blocking shots, making dunks and things like that.”
The Doncic-Hayes pick-and-roll was relatively effective last season, but it was clear that Luka was guiding the way for that to happen. Hayes today appears much more confident in the flow of the offense and picking his spots more efficiently, as Doncic says.
The big man rotation was a clear weakness for the Lakers last season after the trade, and that was still true after acquiring Ayton. But with the way Hayes played on Friday, the Lakers had 48 minutes of solid play from the big men.
Jaxson Hayes discusses stepping up to make up for injured players
The Lakers have not gone many games without losing someone integral to the rotation. On Friday, they played without Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent and Adou Thiero. But this has been what the team has dealt with for some time now, and Hayes thinks they have handled it well.
“Yeah, for sure. We’ve had a bunch of guys step up this year whenever we’ve needed them to and they’ve killed it,” Hayes added. “We just gotta keep it up.”
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