Lakers Seek Center to Support Anthony Davis, Jaxson Hayes Aims to Fill Role

The Los Angeles Lakers are currently in the market for a center who can effectively complement the on-court talents of Anthony Davis. The franchise’s objective is to find a player capable of enhancing Davis’s strengths while reducing his interior workload. Amid trade talks and evaluations of potential candidates, one current player, Jaxson Hayes, has stepped forward, declaring his readiness to fulfill this role.

Jaxson Hayes, preparing for his second year with the Lakers, expressed his desire to collaborate with Davis in larger lineups, reminiscent of the 2020 championship squad. “Obviously, whenever you get in the game with somebody like that that’s gonna bring more attention to them so that could open some stuff up for myself,” Hayes stated. “For me, he’s normally the dunker so that’s somebody they don’t want to come help off which could get me a lob or something.”

In the 2019-20 season, Anthony Davis played 60 percent of his minutes as a power forward, alongside centers like Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee. This setup proved successful, and Hayes believes returning to such a formation could be beneficial. Hayes noted, “We’ve developed a really good big, lengthy squad for us that can play a lot of defense. We’re all big guys that like to play defense.”

As the Lakers approach a new season, head coach JJ Redick has been trialing lineups featuring both Davis and Hayes, especially as Christian Wood recovers from injury. Hayes appreciates these opportunities, emphasizing, “When that happens, I can focus on just crashing and playing in the dunker and setting ball screens because I know AD has already been in the whole quarter.”

In recent seasons, Davis has excelled at the center position, spending 97 percent of his minutes in this role during the 2023-24 season, achieving All-NBA and All-Defensive honors. Nevertheless, Davis has indicated a preference for stepping back from constant center duties, opening the door for players like Hayes to occupy this position.

Hayes, a first-round pick in 2019, has yet to fully live up to his draft expectations. However, his physical attributes—a height of 7 feet and a wingspan of 7 feet 3.5 inches—equip him to potentially excel as a defensive anchor. “I feel like for role guys like me, it’s all about just getting in a rhythm,” Hayes revealed. Consistency and defined roles during the preseason have given him the opportunity to integrate effectively into the team’s plans.

Despite the challenges of adapting to a new coach—a frequent occurrence in Hayes’s career—the center seems optimistic about his fit with Redick, a former teammate in New Orleans. Hayes remarked, “It’s definitely a little bit of difficulty but luckily for me, I feel like JJ when they came, they used most of the same terminology me and JJ used in New Orleans.”