Jaxson Hayes has started all three games for the Los Angeles Lakers in their first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, but that doesn’t mean they’ve fully trusted him. Despite those three starts, Hayes hasn’t even played 10 minutes in a single game in this series. The Lakers have been outscored by 18 points in around 26 minutes of court time for Hayes. His offensive miscues and poor defensive positioning have been evident from the moment the series began.
And so, with Game 4 coming on Sunday, the Lakers are open to making a change in their starting lineup. “We’ll look at everything,” JJ Redick said, “but we still believe in Jaxson.”
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If there really is belief there, it’s born out of necessity. The Lakers don’t have another usable center following their decision to nix the Mark Williams trade. Mid-season signing Alex Len was a bust. Two-way bigs Trey Jemison and Christian Koloko were never converted to standard contracts and, therefore, are not eligible to play in the postseason. The Lakers have been outscored by 42 points in the paint through three games.
If Hayes doesn’t provide meaningful value in the paint, it’s not clear what he actually brings to the Lakers. The issue here is that no other Laker lineup has done much better. The Lakers have used six different lineups for at least six minutes of playing time in this series. Only one of them, the starters with Gabe Vincent and Dorian Finney-Smith in place of Hayes and Rui Hachimura, has a positive net rating.
Their most-used lineup, simply the starters with Finney-Smith in Hayes’ place, has played 43 minutes thus far and been outscored by 12 points. That’s still the likeliest alternate starting lineup for the Lakers, though, because that group outscored regular-season opponents by 48 points in 108 minutes.
There’s no perfect solution here. Start Hayes and you’re playing 4-on-5. Start Finney-Smith or Vincent or Jarred Vanderbilt and you’re taking a small size mismatch into a big one. The Lakers have a flawed, thin roster. There will be weaknesses either way. The goal here is to minimize them so that their ball-handling advantage can carry them across the finish line.
