LOS ANGELES – When the Los Angeles Lakers first acquired Luka Doncic last season, he immediately developed strong chemistry with Jaxson Hayes in the pick and roll. That chemistry has only continued to develop this season, and head coach JJ Redick has even fashioned a few of the Lakers’ lineups around that duo.
Prior to the Lakers’ game against the Indiana Pacers on Friday, JJ Redick spoke about how some of the team’s most successful lineups have included Luka Doncic and Jaxson Hayes on the floor at the same time. Those lineups were able to positively impact the last game against the Denver Nuggets, albeit being a loss.
“We’ve gotten to run some lineups lately with Jaxson and Luka and shooting around that, and they’ve been really positive lineups for us. It gives Luka outlets, it gives Jaxson space to run,” Redick said during his pregame press conference. “They did a really good job for us last night, Jaxson getting behind the defense, Luka forcing [Nikola] Jokic to sort of make a decision there and allow that lob.”
“And also at times, Luka was able to score the basketball. We’re not going to be able to do that every game. Denver does not switch on, what we call flip or backside screens. We try to switch to blow that up,” Redick said. “That first screen from the perimeter guy last night, we were able to get some separation, and then from there it’s just a quick pitch and roll from Jaxson. We’ve got a lot of good stuff out of that.”
Among the Lakers’ top-five offensive five-man lineups, both Doncic and Hayes have been on the court, as per Databallr. Those lineups have also included players like Rui Hachimura, Jake LaRavia and even seldom used Dalton Knecht, all of whom have been overall consistent 3-point threats for the Lakers at times.
One of the reasons why Hayes has become much more effective among 3-point shooters is because of his improved decision-making in the short roll. He’s done a much better job at reading the defense quickly and being able to recognize corner 3-point shooters.
And when it comes to most assists per 36 minutes when they’re on the floor together, Doncic and Hayes are top-10 in the league, at 3.5 as per NBA.com.
There’s no question that both Doncic and Hayes thrive off one another when they’re on the court together. Hayes gives Doncic a legitimate lob threat that opposing defenses have to be aware of. Defenders have to pick their poison between Hayes getting a free lob, or Doncic getting single coverage on his step-back jumpers.
Moving forward into the final stretch of the regular season, it will be interesting to see how Redick continues to use the team’s various lineups.