#11 Jaxson Hayes

LeBron James and Jaxson Hayes are questionable for tomorrow

Injury Report for Phoenix. MARCUS SMART IS BACK

[Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (50-29) defeat the Golden State Warriors (37-42), 119-103. — || |:-:| |\[\](/LAL) \*\*119 - 103\*\* \[\](/GSW)| |\*\*Box Scores: \[NBA\](http://www.nba.com/game/LAL-vs-GSW-0022501170/box-score) - \[Yahoo\](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)\*\*| || |:-:| |\ | |\*\*GAME SUMMARY\*\*| |\*\*Location:\*\* Chase Center| |\*\*Officials:\*\* Bill Kennedy, Tyler Ford, and Natalie Sago| |\*\*Team\*\*|\*\*Q1\*\*|\*\*Q2\*\*|\*\*Q3\*\*|\*\*Q4\*\*|\*\*Total\*\*| |:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--| |Los Angeles Lakers|28|25|29|37|119| |Golden State Warriors|23|26|

No Jaxson Hayes but Marcus Smart has been upgraded to questionable and LeBron is AVAILABLE

Realistic Offseason — 49,500,000 Luka Doncic 12,428,571 Jarred Vanderbilt 8,104,000 Deandre Ayton 6,000,000 Jake LaRavia 4,201,080 Dalton Knecht 2,296,271 Bronny James 2,150,917 Adou Thiero 6,800,000 Incomplete Roster Charge (1.36 x 5) \- Payroll: 91,480,839 Cap Hold: 20,906,361 Austin Reaves Total: 112,387,200 Salary Cap: 165,000,000 Cap Space: 52,612,800 \- Signing: 25,000,000 LeBron James (27,612,800) 15,000,000 Marcus Smart (12,612,800) 12,600,000 Luke Kennard 9,425,000 Rui Hachimura (Room Exce

[Post Game Thread] The Oklahoma City Thunder (62-16) demolish the South Bay Lakers (50-28), 123-87. — || |:-:| |[](/OKC) **123 - 85** [](/LAL)| |**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/OKC-vs-LAL-0022501155/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**| || |:-:| | | |**GAME SUMMARY**| |**Location:** Crypto.com Arena| |**Officials:** Pat Fraher, Justin Van Duyne, and Ashley Moyer-Gleich| |**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**| |:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--| |Oklahoma City Thunder|34|31|28|30|123| |Los Angeles Lakers|27|20|15|23|85| || |:-:| | | |**TEAM ST

[Panerio] Cowherd: "Lakers are a sports car, and their answer for everything is more power. Handling—don’t worry about it. Aerodynamics—somebody else’s problem. Braking, tires—eh, somebody else can worry about it. Let’s give us more horsepower... And that’s been Rob Pelinka’s answer to everything.” — ​ “This was the inevitable conclusion,” Colin stressed. “JJ Redick inherited a completely lopsided roster. He should be up for Coach of the Year. They have no bench. They can’t shoot threes. They can’t rebound. They’ve got no rim protector. They lack ‘3-and-D’ guys in a ‘3-and-D’ league,” the veteran pundit added. For context, Luka played 35.8 minutes a game, which actually isn’t outrageous for a player of his caliber. However, his usage rate of 38.6—which is a career-high—essentially

What are your expectations for this alternate 2025-26 roster if the Luka never gets traded here (let's say that they still did their offseason moves and they stay relatively healthy). — \*The first column would be the starters, second column would be the backups, and the third column would be the 3rd-stringers. Would this team with Anthony Davis having a center, Austin Reaves' all-star jump, Max Christie and Jaxson Hayes growing into reliable bench pieces, and some trade deadline moves like going for a reliable, backup ball handler make a deep run in the playoffs?

[Highlight] Jaxson Hayes with a powerful poster dunk on Dwight Powell for the and-1 (with replays)

[Highlight] Klay Thompson swishes the deep pullup 3 over Jaxson Hayes (with a replay)

Cap experts can you explain how much cap space will we have next season? I know that Austin reaves will have a 20m cap hold. So if we don’t re-sign Rui Kleber and keep Kennard at a similar contract will we have around 70m in cap space?

Both Lakers centers have combined for 0 rebounds during the first half vs the Thunder — Deandre Ayton 12 mins 0 rebounds Jaxson Hayes 11 mins 0 rebounds I honestly dont remember the last time this has happened, how can two centers play a combined 23 mins without grabbing a board? Thunder haven't been missing much but still have offensive rebounded exactly one third of their misses.

Leaders in FG% within 5 feet of the rim (Min 200 attempts). 3 Lakers in the top 5 and 5 in the top 20. Only Cleveland with 2 has more than 1 player in the top 20.

[ESPN] The Lakers want to resign Luke Kennard and Jaxson Hayes, on top of their plans to keep AR this summer. They also have interest in keeping Rui Hachimura, but only if the price is right.

[Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (49-26) defeat the Washington Wizards (17-58), 120-101. — || |:-:| |[](/WAS) **101 - 120** [](/LAL)| |**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/WAS-vs-LAL-0022501098/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**| || |:-:| | | |**GAME SUMMARY**| |**Location:** Crypto.com Arena| |**Officials:** Sean Corbin, Josh Tiven, and Pat O'Connell| |**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**| |:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--| |Washington Wizards|26|18|33|24|101| |Los Angeles Lakers|25|40|26|29|120| || |:-:| | | |**TEAM STATS**| |**

[Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (49-26) defeat the Washington Wizards (17-58), 120-101. — || |:-:| |[](/WAS) **101 - 120** [](/LAL)| |**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/WAS-vs-LAL-0022501098/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**| || |:-:| | | |**GAME SUMMARY**| |**Location:** Crypto.com Arena| |**Officials:** Sean Corbin, Josh Tiven, and Pat O'Connell| |**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**| |:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--| |Washington Wizards|26|18|33|24|101| |Los Angeles Lakers|25|40|26|29|120| || |:-:| | | |**TEAM STATS**| |**T

[Highlight] LeBron finds Jaxson Hayes for three. Hayes has averaged 15.3 PPG in his last 4 games.

[Highlight] Jaxson Hayes with the defense to cause an air ball and then the two-handed powerful dunk on Anthony Gill at the other end (with replays)

[Highlight] Jaxson Hayes throws down a monstrous slam dunk

Deandre Ayton, Austin Reaves, Jaxson Hayes speak on the defensive intensity after practice: 3/29/26

How Injuries Have Impacted The Top 4 MVP Candidates' Teams — With team record and on-off data being a large part of the 2025-26 MVP discussion, it's worthwhile to understand the health of each MVP's supporting cast, as teammate health has a large effect on both of those statistics. These lists show each team's top 7 players (besides the MVP candidates) numbers of games missed, with the top 7 teammates being chosen using DunksandThree's EPM model to determine the "best" 7 teammates. This was done to avoid having unproven or relatively unimportant players l

[Highlight] Josh Minott soars up high, throws down and banks in a crazy shot over Jaxson Hayes for the and-1, as he falls down hard (with replays). He remained in the game.

[Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (47-26) defeat the Brooklyn Nets (17-56), 116-99 behind Lukas 41 point performance — || |:-:| |[](/BKN) **99 - 116** [](/LAL)| |**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/BKN-vs-LAL-0022501075/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**| || |:-:| | | |**GAME SUMMARY**| |**Location:** Crypto.com Arena| |**Officials:** Sean Wright, Brian Forte, and JD Ralls| |**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**| |:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--| |Brooklyn Nets|30|29|25|15|99| |Los Angeles Lakers|35|26|24|31|116| || |:-:| | | |**TEAM STATS**| |**Team**|**PTS

Jaxson Hayes' DEFENSIVE EFFORT deserves recognition: 12 PTS 8 REB 5 BLK

4 GOOD/2 BAD/1 WTF for 3/25/26 vs Pacers — Does anyone else get more anxious when the Lakers are up 20+ points than when they're in a close game? I'm more comfortable in the clutch than in a blowout because I know our guys lock in. Anyway, I've never been as nervous during a wire to wire victory as last night's game but 5-1 road trip! Let's dive in.... **GOOD** **The Big 3 -** I said before the game just the Big 3's talent should overwhelm the Pacers enough for us to win without playing our best and the Big 3 came through. 94 combine

We have to talk about our center tonight — I know Luka once again scored at will, Austin did his thing dropping 25 and LeBron was amazing with some incredible passes and crazy dunks. The kids had the opportunity to finally watch Bronny getting playing time since the first quarter, but we have to talk about Jaxson Hayes. Dude had a great energy, attacked the basket, went after board, blocked a couple of shots, finished the alley oops, got a couple of steals and was 9-11 from the field. Amazing game overall, if you guys remember when he

[Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (47-26) defeat the Indiana Pacers (16-57), 137-130. — || |:-:| |[](/LAL) **137 - 130** [](/IND)| |**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/LAL-vs-IND-0022501052/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**| || |:-:| | | |**GAME SUMMARY**| |**Location:** Gainbridge Fieldhouse| |**Officials:** Eric Dalen, Ben Taylor, and Evan Scott| |**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**| |:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--| |Los Angeles Lakers|45|30|30|32|137| |Indiana Pacers|28|31|26|45|130| || |:-:| | | |**TEAM STATS**| |**Team

[Post Game Thread] The Detroit Pistons (52-19) hold back the Los Angeles Lakers (46-26), 113-110. — || |:-:| |[](/LAL) **110 - 113** [](/DET)| |**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/LAL-vs-DET-0022501038/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**| || |:-:| | | |**GAME SUMMARY**| |**Location:** Little Caesars Arena| |**Officials:** John Goble, Scott Twardoski, and Natalie Sago| |**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**| |:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--| |Los Angeles Lakers|27|25|35|23|110| |Detroit Pistons|23|42|24|24|113| || |:-:| | | |**TEAM STATS**|

[Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (45-25) defeat the Orlando Magic (38-31), 105-104. — || |:-:| |[](/LAL) **105 - 104** [](/ORL)| |**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/LAL-vs-ORL-0022501024/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**| || |:-:| | | |**GAME SUMMARY**| |**Location:** Kia Center| |**Officials:** Sean Corbin, Marc Davis, and Marat Kogut| |**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**| |:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--| |Los Angeles Lakers|37|25|20|23|105| |Orlando Magic|30|35|22|17|104| || |:-:| | | |**TEAM STATS**| |**Team**|**PTS*

[Highlight] Jaxson Hayes manages to catch the bullet pass by Luka Doncic and finish the lefty layup (with a replay)

[Highlight] Jaxson Hayes to official: "what are you watching?"

[Highlight] Austin Reaves with the powerful one-handed fastbreak dunk off a block by Jaxson Hayes (with replays). LeBron James gets hyped

[Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (44-25) defeat the Miami Heat (38-31), 134-126. — || |:-:| |[](/LAL) **134 - 126** [](/MIA)| |**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/LAL-vs-MIA-0022501010/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**| || |:-:| | | |**GAME SUMMARY**| |**Location:** Kaseya Center| |**Officials:** Derrick Collins, Courtney Kirkland, and Mark Lindsay| |**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**| |:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--| |Los Angeles Lakers|29|30|38|37|134| |Miami Heat|42|23|23|38|126| || |:-:| | | |**TEAM STATS**| |**Te

[Highlight] Luka Doncic to LeBron James, who lobs it to Jaxson Hayes for the dunk

3 GOOD/3 BAD/1 WTF for 3/18/26 vs the Rockets — The final tiebreaker Infinity Stones has been acquired for LeThanos' gauntlet. Suffice it to say Luka told the crowd at Toyota Center, "Houston, you've got a problem." That's enough movie references, let's talk about this one. **GOOD** **Luka "That's what I f\*cking do baby" Doncic -** In one 2.5 minute sequence late in the 4th, the following happened: * Luka hits a stepback three to put the Lakers up 2 possessions * Luka performs a behind the back split of a double team and lobs it to a ba

[Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (44-25) defeat the Houston Rockets (41-27), 124-116 to continue their win streak to 7. — || |:-:| |[](/LAL) **124 - 116** [](/HOU)| |**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/LAL-vs-HOU-0022501007/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**| || |:-:| | | |**GAME SUMMARY**| |**Location:** Toyota Center| |**Officials:** Sean Wright, Brent Barnaky, and Mousa Dagher| |**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**| |:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--| |Los Angeles Lakers|35|32|22|35|124| |Houston Rockets|26|29|37|24|116| || |:-:| | | |**TEAM STATS**| |**Team*

Luka has had the best defensive in/off rating in the team since his last tech — \-38.8 diff, that’s just insane. 105.2 defensive rating. Him running down on defense instead of arguing with the refs makes a massive difference. He’s actually not a bad defender when he stops giving up easy points in transition.

[Highlight] Nikola Jokic with the 3-pointer And-1 on Jaxson Hayes (with replays)

[Highlight] Luke Kennard with a great high pass inside the paint to Jaxson Hayes for the dunk (with replays)

[Highlight] Nikola Jokić scoops it up over Jaxson Hayes

Early Predictions for which Laker Free Agents will be Re-Signed: AR 200M/5yr, MS 20M/2yr, DA 20 M/2yr, LK 33M/3yr, JH 12M/2yr — Seems like a slow afternoon on the board as we all await the big game, so here are some early predictions for L.A.'s free agent signings this summer: . **(1) Austin Reaves -- 5 years, 200M** . Starting from a salary of **36.1M** in 2026-2027 and with 8% annual raises ending at 46.4M in 2030-2031. . I think this deal will be leaked to the media soon after the playoffs end (before agency actually starts when teams can only negotiate with their own free agents). . I predict that the

Injury report vs Denver tomorrow: Marcus Smart is AVAILABLE. Jaxson Hayes is PROBABLE. Maxi Kleber is OUT

[Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (41-25) defeat the Chicago Bulls (27-39), 142-130. — || |:-:| |[](/CHI) **130 - 142** [](/LAL)| |**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/CHI-vs-LAL-0022500960/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**| || |:-:| | | |**GAME SUMMARY**| |**Location:** Crypto.com Arena| |**Officials:** John Goble, Mark Lindsay, and Matt Kallio| |**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**| |:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--| |Chicago Bulls|26|36|36|32|130| |Los Angeles Lakers|26|41|41|34|142| || |:-:| | | |**TEAM STATS**| |**Team**|

Today's starters: Hachimura, James, Ayton, Reaves, Doncic

Lakers injury list against Chicago

Injury report vs. Bulls tomorrow (3/12)

[Post Game Thread] The Los Angeles Lakers (40-25) defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves (40-25), 120-106 behind Luka Doncic's 31/11/11 triple double & Austin Reaves 31/7/8 performances — || |:-:| |[](/MIN) **106 - 120** [](/LAL)| |**Box Scores: [NBA](http://www.nba.com/game/MIN-vs-LAL-0022500946/box-score) - [Yahoo](https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/scoreboard/)**| || |:-:| | | |**GAME SUMMARY**| |**Location:** Crypto.com Arena| |**Officials:** Zach Zarba, Kevin Cutler, and J.T. Orr| |**Team**|**Q1**|**Q2**|**Q3**|**Q4**|**Total**| |:---|:--|:--|:--|:--|:--| |Minnesota Timberwolves|21|24|23|38|106| |Los Angeles Lakers|16|29|39|36|120| || |:-:| | | |**TEAM STATS**| |**T

This just shows that we were puttin in effort on the defense!

Updated Net Points for the roster — Here are some takeaways/changes. 1: The team has been about a middle of the pack defense in recent weeks due to the heavy zone usage and that's portrayed here among the starter's values. 2: Luka's playing his best basketball as a whole right now while both AR/LeBron have fallen off a bit for different reasons. 3: Jaxson Hayes has officially supplanted Ayton for having the most productive minutes at the C position on the roster. He's elevated his own play while Ayton has continually fallen off

Lakers Team +/- and On/Off Stats for the Season. — Some thoughts: Marcus Smart has played almost exactly half the team's minutes and had a +/- as well as On/off twice as good and a defensive on/off thrice as good as anybody else on the team. We are literally a top 10-12 defence in the minutes he plays and a bottom 3-4 defence in the minutes he sits out. You could make a case that with his play as well as actually being available for nearly 90% of games this season, he has been the second best laker this season factoring in injuries and I'd agre

My take on the future of the current roster of this team — This is going to be ordered from staying to gone **Luka and Reaves:** ***Staying*** This is a nobrainer, they are the core and backcourt for the foreseeable future. **Luke Kennard:** ***Staying*** He is the perfect 6th man for Luka and Reaves, good passer as a connector, insane gravity as a shooter and good decisionmaker. His defensive profile is very similiar to both of them, so if we surround them with defenders to help even out their shortcomings, they will also fit well with Kennard

3 GOOD/3 BAD/1 WTF for 3/5/2026 vs Nuggets — 3 minutes and 8 seconds, that was difference ultimately between the Lakers winning and losing this game. There was a lot encouraging in this game to look at and I'm going to try and focus on that more than the end result so let's dive into it. **GOOD** **Defense on Jokic** \- If you told me "Oh, Jokic had a near quadruple double against the Lakers" I'd have said, "damn, how much did we lose by." Forcing arguably the best offensive player in the game into 9 turnovers is nothing to scoff at.

Are we confident in Jaxson Hayes being the backup center of the future?

3 GOOD/3 BAD/1 WTF for 3/4/26 vs Pelicans — Poor New Orleans, I feel like we are to them what the Nuggets were to us. It's not a wholly one-to-one comparison but it's one of those where no matter how well NO plays, we always find a way to come out on top, and this gone back all the way to the AD trade. Anyway, wins don't have style points so let's break it down. **GOOD** **4th Quarter -** Basically from the point we were down 94-86 to the end. I've never seen so many strips on drives to the basket CONSECUTIVELY before. Marcus Smart

Jaxson Hayes +/- last 4 games: +16, +16, +18, +16 — I know looking this stat can be flawed, but wow do these numbers jump out. It even includes the loss to Phoenix. The comparison to Ayton is jarring. vs NOP: Ayton -7, Hayes +16 Vs SAC: Ayton +2, Hayes +16 @ GSW: Ayton +14, Hayes +18 @ PHX: Ayton -24, Hayes +16 Obviously the coaching staff is aware of how much better the team is playing with Hayes on the court. It seems Ayton may keep the starting job to keep him from checking out altogether, and I understand that. I’m just amazed at how

Jaxson Hayes: More life to my fellow Slovenian @lukadoncic

3 GOOD/3 BAD/1 WTF for 2/26 vs Suns — \*sigh\* Okay let’s get this over with. GOOD **Luka Doncic** \- A superstar response to his game against Orlando. 41 points on an efficient 12-21 from the field, 6-11 from 3 and only missed 1 FT. He also led the comeback after the Lakers went down 10 late in the 4th. Can’t wait to see what a better fitting roster does for him. **Free throw shooting** \- mentioned Luka only missed 1 FT (makes you wonder how much his eye was affecting him yesterday), but the team shot 23-26 from the FT line t