Frontcourt help arrives just in time as the Los Angeles Lakers brace for a Mark Williams‘ revenge game in their Wednesday (Feb. 9) home game against the Charlotte Hornets, their first meeting since the rescinded trade.
The Lakers have welcomed back Jaxson Hayes after he suffered a facial contusion in the opening quarter of their 131-119 loss to the Utah Jazz on Feb. 12 before the NBA All-Star break.
Hayes participated in the Lakers’ Tuesday practice and is expected to start against Williams, who will play his first game back with the Hornets.
In six starts before the injury, Hayes averaged 8.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.3 steals while shooting an insane 82.1% from the field, mostly on dunks. The 7-foot center had four points, two rebounds, one steal and a block in seven minutes before he exited with the facial injury against the Jazz.
Alex Len, who was signed for the rest of the season, was thrust into starter’s minutes without practice. The Jazz frontline took advantage to run away with the victory and get back at the Lakers, who routed them 132-113 two nights earlier in Los Angeles during Doncic’s debut.
Len’s final stats line — 4 points on 2-of-5 shooting, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block in 22 minutes — looked decent on paper. But it did not tell the whole story. His numbers were inflated by garbage time in the Lakers’ blowout loss.
The Lakers were outscored by nine points with Len as their center. Utah shot 7-of-10 against Len’s defense inside the paint, according to NBA matchup tracking data with the frontcourt duo of Lauri Markkanen and John Collins combining for a perfect 5-of-5 shooting.
Lakers Getting Healthier
Aside from Hayes, Gabe Vincent (knee) and Dorian Finney-Smith (ankle) are also available to play, Lakers coach JJ Redick told reporters after their Tuesday practice.
There is also “optimism” that LeBron James can play against the Hornets after skipping the 2025 NBA All-Star Game, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on “NBA Today” on Wednesday, a few hours before tip-off.
Luka Doncic will also play his third game with the Lakers but remains on a minute-restriction. But Redick is hopeful that his minute restriction will be lifted following the Hornets game.
“He’ll be fine,” Redick said, per Mark Medina of Fox Sports and Athlon Sports. “That extra five, six days of All-Star break was good for him. His minutes will be up tomorrow, and I don’t think that there’s going to be any sort of restrictions going forward.”
3 Center Buyout Candidates
The Lakers can still waive one more player to sign a center.
Jovan Buha of The Athletic floated three centers who could be potential buyout signing candidates for them.
“As for what’s next, I think the Lakers have to continue to monitor the center market if Larry Nance Jr. or Kelly Olynyk or Chris Boucher become available,” Buha said. “I think they should waive a second player and add one of those big men.”
John Hollinger of The Athletic wrote the Atlanta Hawks may want to hold on to Nance because of his Bird rights that could be valuable.
Olynyk has yet to play for the Pelicans after he was thrown in as a salary filler in the Brandon Ingram trade. He was a key reserve in Toronto playing 15.6 minutes off the bench before the trade.
Boucher’s expiring contract generated trade interest but he remained with the Raptors past the Feb. 6 deadline. Jake Fischer reported on “The Stein Line” on Substack that “there has been no discussion to this point on a Boucher buyout.”
The Lakers may be stuck with Hayes and Len for the rest of the season.
