Coming into the 2024-25 season, the Los Angeles Lakers knew they were going to be short-handed in the frontcourt. Both Christian Wood and Jarred Vanderbilt would be sidelined due to injury, and both have yet to make their season debut.
About two months into the regular season, the Lakers are also without Jaxson Hayes, who has been battling an ankle injury.
According to Lakers head coach JJ Redick, the team is not sure when Jaxson Hayes will return from injury, as per Daniel Starkand of Lakers Nation.
The update certainly isn’t very reassuring for Lakers fans, and it leaves the team incredibly thin in the frontcourt. In the meantime, the Lakers have been active in the trade market, looking for additional frontcourt depth, as per ClutchPoints’ Lakers insider Anthony Irwin.
They’ve been linked to a few center targets, such as Jonas Valanciunas and Walker Kessler.
Hayes began the season as the team’s backup center by default due to the injuries to Wood and Vanderbilt. In his absence, the team has relied on second-year center Christian Koloko, who is on a two-way contract.
Jaxson Hayes’ importance to Lakers’ rotation
Hayes originally signed with the Lakers as a free agent during the 2023 offseason. He signed a two-year contract with a player option after the first year, which he exercised this past offseason.
He was playing behind Wood for the start of the 2023-24 season but saw his role increase when Wood went down in the second half of the year.
This season, though, Hayes was proving his worth as a rim-running big who was active on the defensive end of the court. There have been a couple of instances this season where Redick has praised Hayes as being a major difference-maker in a win.
This season, though, Hayes was proving his worth as a rim-running big who was active on the defensive end of the court.
There have been a couple of instances this season where Redick has praised Hayes as being a major difference-maker in a win.
He has appeared in 11 games so far, including one start, at a little over 17 minutes per game. He had been averaging 6.4 points and 4.5 rebounds with splits of 72.2 percent shooting from the field and 78.3 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
Hayes initially suffered the ankle injury during practice right before the Lakers’ Nov. 13 game against the Memphis Grizzlies.
He ended up missing six games before making a return on Nov. 26 against the Phoenix Suns.
He re-aggravated that same ankle injury late in the game against the Suns and has been sidelined since.
He’s missed seven more games, and there’s no timetable for how many more he might miss. Barring a trade, the Lakers are going to be thin in the frontcourt.
