{"id":180130,"date":"2026-03-06T07:30:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T12:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=180130"},"modified":"2026-03-06T03:33:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T08:33:03","slug":"jaxson-hayes-resurgence-perfect-time-for-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/03\/06\/jaxson-hayes-resurgence-perfect-time-for-lakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaxson Hayes&#8217; Resurgence Comes at Perfect Time for Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the Lakers <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hayesja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">re-signed<\/span><\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hayesja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jaxson Hayes<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to a one-year, $3 million deal this past summer, many expected him to once again star in his role<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, setting back into the second unit, this time backing up <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/aytonde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deandre Ayton<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Fast forward a few months, and amid Ayton\u2019s struggles with health and consistency, Hayes hasn\u2019t missed a beat. He continues to show the skills and chemistry that make him a valuable asset to the purple and gold.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Ayton deals with another setback, it opens the door for Hayes to ride another wave of momentum.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Jaxson Hayes&#8217; Resurgence Comes at Perfect Time for Lakers<\/h2>\n<h3>Hayes Records Season-High Despite Loss to Nuggets<\/h3>\n<p><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/sports\/lakers-deandre-ayton-knee-leaves-game-against-nuggets--flm-2026-03-06\/?taid=69aa6d92cd818f00012215ca&amp;utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&amp;utm_medium=trueAnthem&amp;utm_source=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ayton<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> played nearly five minutes Thursday before exiting in the first quarter due to knee soreness. He went scoreless but grabbed a pair of rebounds. Hayes, meanwhile, was productive in his place, tallying a season-high 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting, along with five rebounds and two assists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite the solid scoring, Hayes took accountability for his defense, <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SpectrumSN\/status\/2029810197393461736\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">saying<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> there was \u201cmore [he] could have done\u201d in terms of avoiding \u201clapses\u201d while in coverage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hayes energizes the Lakers with his athleticism no matter the situation, feasting on pick-and-rolls and making his presence felt in the paint. While concerns over his defense and rebounding rightfully persist, he has done an admirable job stabilizing the center rotation amid uncertain and adverse times.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Shoutout Jaxson Hayes. Had himself a hell of a game against the best C in the league. Good perimeter defense too contesting shots.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; GoldenKnight (@GoldenKnightGFX) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GoldenKnightGFX\/status\/2029793354142339254?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 6, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Redick Evaluates Hayes\u2019 Season, Confidence Still High<\/h3>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBh24sNqTW\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 800px; aspect-ratio: 6000\/4000;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Head coach JJ Redick <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/lakersnation.com\/lakers-news-jj-redick-praises-jaxson-hayes-for-growth-as-player\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">detailed how Hayes has grown<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> throughout the season and his seven-year career, having played with Hayes in New Orleans from 2019 to 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHe\u2019s making touch shots around the rim. He\u2019s making great pocket decisions. He\u2019s a good basketball player that, frankly, he consistently injects energy into the group when he runs the floor, blocks a shot or gets those dunks.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With Ayton potentially being sidelined in the short term, <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LakersNation\/status\/2029797935039533366\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reddick told reporters<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> he\u2019s \u201cvery confident\u201d in Hayes, who is now their lone healthy big man with <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/klebima01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maxi Kleber<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (back soreness) also down:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI thought he was terrific tonight. He played basically 28 minutes and that was a lot for him. I think not having Maxi tonight actually really hurt us, particularly with DA out. But Jaxson, I definitely have confidence in him.&#8221;<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That reinforced confidence and season-high should serve Hayes well going forward, as he looks to be the \u201cnext man up\u201d and\u2014like most of the roster\u2014trudges through a contract year.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Starting Center Debate Could Intensify<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Circumstances aside, Hayes\u2019 recent play has re-ignited some conversations of whether he can finally <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/lakeshowlife.com\/los-angeles-lakers-deandre-ayton-injury-opens-door-finally-play-ideal-rotation\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">replace Ayton in the starting five<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, considering the latter\u2019s ineffectiveness and <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BrickCenter_\/status\/2027238284179755395\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">recent benching during crunch time<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Hayes already has the chemistry and skill set working in his favor, not to mention his promising play just before and <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.statmuse.com\/nba\/ask?q=lakers+players+plus+minus+after+all-star+break+this+season\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">after the All-Star break<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. While he\u2019s not expected to get double-doubles every game, he\u2019s filled his role to a tee thus far, and when it comes to stepping up, there\u2019s no time like the present.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If Ayton is indeed out again and Hayes excels in his place, then Redick and his staff will need to have tough conversations with 20 games to go. The Lakers face the Indiana Pacers tonight at 7:30.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u00a9 Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When the Lakers re-signed Jaxson Hayes to a one-year, $3 million deal this past summer, many expected him to once again star in his role, setting back into the second unit, this time backing up Deandre Ayton. Fast forward a few months, and amid Ayton\u2019s struggles with health and consistency, Hayes hasn\u2019t missed a beat. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":180134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62,3],"tags":[1419,1962,2279],"class_list":["post-180130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-news","tag-deandre-ayton","tag-jaxson-hayes","tag-jj-redick"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180130"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":180145,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180130\/revisions\/180145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}