Los Angeles Lakers big man Jaxson Hayes sat out four games earlier in the month of March with a knee injury, and Los Angeles lost every one of those contests.
The Lakers’ defense was porous in that span sans Hayes, as the team allowed its opponents to score 111-plus points in all of the losses in question.
However, Hayes returned to the lineup when the Lakers took on the Phoenix Suns on March 16, and Los Angeles has picked up its play on both ends of late and hasn’t lost a game since. Lakers star guard Luka Doncic gushed about Hayes’ impact and implied that he makes the Slovenian’s life a lot easier on the court.
“You can see the difference,” Doncic said. “For me, it helps me a lot.”
Furthermore, head coach J.J. Redick hinted that Hayes’ presence adds a layer of lethality to the storied franchise on the offensive side of the ball.
“If you don’t have a threat at the rim, then it’s really just three-on-three and teams are able to scram back and get back matched up,” Redick said. “Having someone again that has the threat of catching a lob or getting a tip or getting a drop-off pass for a dunk, that creates, we call it marginal indecision against offensive players that we’re trying to create with our defense. That creates marginal indecision for the defenders more.”
Hayes had quite an impressive two-way performance in his return to the lineup against forward Kevin Durant and company on Sunday. For one, he was Los Angeles’ third-leading scorer behind only Doncic and guard Austin Reaves with 19 points while shooting a highly efficient 8-of-10 from the floor.
The former University of Texas at Austin star chipped in six rebounds, three assists, one steal and one blocked shot as well, and with him as the starting man in the middle, Los Angeles held the Suns to just 96 points. The Suns also shot just 39.3 percent from the field and 22.0 percent from deep as a team.
Hayes followed up his standout showing versus the Suns by nearly totaling a double-double against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday. He finished with nine points and a team-high 11 rebounds in a game Los Angeles won by 16 points.
The 24-year-old will try to build on his recent streak of impressive play when the Lakers take on the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night. It should be interesting to find out who will suit up in that game for Denver, considering both guard Jamal Murray and big man Nikola Jokic didn’t play in the team’s win over the Golden State Warriors on Monday.