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Los Angeles Lakers center Jaxson Hayes (11) could replace Deandre Ayton as starter.
There are two aspects to the Lakers‘ situation at center. The first is that Deandre Ayton, the starter the team signed after he was bought out by the Blazers, has struggled to mee the defense-and-rebounding challenge the team put in front of him. The Lakers have three of the best offensive players in the game–Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and LeBron James–and they don’t need a big man who wants more shots.
Ayton does want more shots, and the fact that intrepid ESPN reporter Dave McMenamin nabbed a quote from him that summed up the situation (“They’re trying to turn me into Clint Capela”) and went viral, to boot, brought attention and controversy to Ayton’s role with the Lakers.
But Ayton was never a fit for this Lakers roster and was signed only because of the front office’s penchant for grabbing the big name, no matter how broken down or ill-fitting the player may be. When Ayton went out of the Lakers’ loss to the Nuggets last week, there was some fear among coaches and scouts that Ayton might be out for a while, and that the Lakers would make the obvious move of starting Jaxson Hayes.
Deandre Ayton Ready for Lakers Return
It turns out that Ayton’s absence won’t last long for the Lakers. He missed Friday’s win over the Pacers, but will be back on the floor Sunday against the Knicks, presumably as the starter. Many around the league can’t quite figure out why that’s the case.
“Oh there’s no doubt that they’re better off with Jaxson Hayes in there than with Deandre,” one longtime scout said. “He gets what he is supposed to be doing. He fits well with that lineup because he has good chemistry with Luka and he knows when to fill the line and when stay out of the way.”
GettyLos Angeles Lakers center Deandre Ayton (5)
Lakers Should Bench Deandre Ayton
Another Eastern Conference assistant coach agreed, adding that the Lakers would be more fearsome with Ayton on the second unit. Ayton does average 12.6 points and 8.2 rebounds, so he can be productive when he gets touches.
But the coach said there are much better ways to take advantage of that: “If you put Ayton on the floor more and you stagger the minutes so he is on with Austin Reaves and Luke Kennard and Rui (Hachimura), guys who spread the floor and give Ayton room to work, now you have a pretty potent second unit coming off that bench.
“Guys get promised things and maybe Ayton was promised the starting job, that happens. But it’s obvious that is not the best thing for this team.”
Better Results With Jaxson Hayes
Indeed, the numbers show that the Lakers are better with Hayes. They’re 6-2 when Hayes starts, and they’re 33-20 when he plays–5-5 when he does not. That’s a small sample size, of course.
But the on/off numbers show that the Lakers’ offensive rating with Ayton drops considerably–119.5 when he is off the floor, 116.9 when he is on it. And the defensive rating suffers, too, going from 115.5 when he is off the floor up to 119.1 when he is on it.
For Jaxson Hayes, it’s the opposite. His impact on the offense is steady either way, 118.2 when he is off the floor up to 118.3 when he is on. But defensively, the Lakers go from 118.0 when he is off the floor to 115.1 when he is on it.
Ayton is back, then, but whether that’s a good thing–at least as a starter–is a worthy question.
Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney
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