One NBA executive believes the Lakers will be held back by their lack of depth at the center position.
The Los Angeles Lakers are flying high since the Luka Doncic trade. While the Slovenian star took some time to start clicking, he had his best game on Saturday night as he helped the Lakers finally defeat the Nuggets. But how far can this team go in the playoffs? According to one anonymous NBA executive who spoke to ESPN, they won’t find much success with Jaxson Hayes as their starting center.
“There’s still an adjustment period to play with LeBron. But [Luka] is going to be just fine once he gets his feet wet and gets comfortable… “When Jaxson Hayes is your only lob threat, it’s only going to look so good. [Doncic] is a great player, so I assume it will all level itself out, but I don’t know if it’s going to happen this year.”
The concern about Jaxson Hayes is one that many fans and analysts have echoed over the past few weeks. Even the Los Angeles Lakers front office is aware of this, which is why they traded for Mark Williams at the trade deadline. However, now that the trade has been rescinded, the Lakers have no choice but to start Hayes at center.
This is an issue of their own creation. Anthony Davis, before the Lakers traded him away, had been asking the Lakers to trade for a center. While Davis was doing so because he didn’t enjoy playing at the position and wanted to return to playing power forward, the Lakers ignoring his request has inadvertently left a weakness on this team that could hold back the superstar pairing of LeBron James and Luka Doncic.
Lakers Must Find Ways To Cope With Hayes
Luka Doncic is a player who is great at elevating the big men he plays with. Given how successful he made players like Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, and P.J. Washington, he will do the same for Hayes, at least on the offensive end. But defensively, Hayes leaves a lot to be desired as a starting center.
Hayes has never been a strong, rim-protecting big. And playing in a tough Western Conference with centers like Nikola Jokic, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Zach Edey is going to be a tough ask for the Lakers. While they were able to shut down Nikola Jokic defensively on Saturday night, limiting him to just seven attempted shots, it is unlikely the Lakers can replicate that level of energy throughout a playoff series.
Perhaps the solution might be to play LeBron James at center. While James is only 6’8″, he is an athletic marvel, and a great defender when he wants to be. Putting him at the center of a small-ball lineup might be the best course of action for the Lakers. It would work well because the Lakers also have athletic wings like Jarred Vanderbilt and Dorian Finney-Smith who are good defenders that can play around LeBron.
Luka Doncic must get better defensively, and not allow what happened against the Hornets to become a regular occurrence. The Lakers have the talent to win it all. But it all depends on how JJ Redick puts the team together.