{"id":592782,"date":"2026-02-09T16:14:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T16:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/592782\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T16:14:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T16:14:19","slug":"jaxson-hayes-highlights-las-complementary-strength","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/592782\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaxson Hayes highlights LA\u2019s \u2018complementary\u2019 strength"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2013 After last season\u2019s disappointing playoff flameout in the opening round of the NBA playoffs against the Minnesota Timberwolves, it was widely agreed that the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> needed a major upgrade at the center position. However, this season center might actually be a position of strength for the Lakers, and Jaxson Hayes<\/a> believes each player compliments one another well.<\/p>\n

Following the Lakers\u2019 win against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, Jaxson Hayes spoke about how the center trio of him, Deandre Ayton<\/a> and Maxi Kleber<\/a> compliment each other with a different skill-set they each bring to the court. Hayes returned to the lineup after serving a one-game suspension<\/a> for shoving the Washington Wizards\u2019 mascot last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all just kind of do our different thing, and I feel like it just kind of compliments each other,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cLike in games when it\u2019s me and DA [Deandre], in the rotation, DA gets this middies [mid-range], then suddenly guys start stepping up and I get those rolls behind. When it\u2019s me and Maxi, Maxi gets that pop for the three, and as soon as that starts happening, I get my rolls. And it goes both ways. . .it\u2019s really nice to have two guys like that, that you can always count on.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the Lakers\u2019 win against the Warriors, Ayton did not play due to a knee issue<\/a>. Hayes started in his place, and Kleber provided the backup center minutes. It was the second straight game where Kleber has made an impact, and the second straight where he\u2019s closed the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Kleber has provided a pick and pop threat, has generally set strong screens, rebounded and even shown a little playmaking. Against the 76ers, he had one of his most well-rounded games this season with four points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals with a team-high plus-23.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen this since he was in Dallas, back when I was in New Orleans playing against him, he\u2019d always have good games,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cAnd he was one of those guys, when I played with Zion [Williamson], he was one of the only people I\u2019ve ever seen really stop him like that. Maxi\u2019s been like that, and he just stayed ready and just been trying to get back healthy. We got him last year and I\u2019m just really happy to see him back out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Hayes, he\u2019s appeared in 42 games for the Lakers this season, including five starts, at a little over 17 minutes per game. He\u2019s been averaging 6.4 points and 3.8 rebounds while shooting 77.5 percent from the field.<\/p>\n

Ayton has appeared in 45 games at a little over 28 minutes per game. He\u2019s averaged 13.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.0 blocked shots while shooting 67.6 percent from the field.<\/p>\n

Kleber has appeared in 26 games, including one starts, at a little over 11 minutes per game. He\u2019s averaged 2.1 points and 2.0 rebounds while shooting 39.6 percent shooting from the field, 22.2 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 72.2 percent shooting from the free-throw line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2013 After last season\u2019s disappointing playoff flameout in the opening round of the NBA playoffs against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3790],"tags":[7,1586,32,4034,1698,300,4044,251,150,4033,4043,3000,6,2144],"class_list":{"0":"post-592782","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-lakers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-deandre-ayton","10":"tag-jaxson-hayes","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-lakers","13":"tag-lakers","14":"tag-lalakers","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","17":"tag-losangeles","18":"tag-losangeleslakers","19":"tag-maxi-kleber","20":"tag-nba","21":"tag-reporting"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116041565165728296","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}