Jaxson Hayes: The X-Factor

Jaxson Hayes hyping up the crowd

Jaxson Hayes, the 24-year-old 7-foot center, went to Archbishop Moeller High School in the state of Ohio. Hayes had an impressive senior year there and averaged 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 blocks per game. He led his team to a division 1 title that same year. After that year, he went to the University of Texas at Austin. During his time there, he averaged 10 points, 5 rebounds, 72.8% from the field, and 2 blocks per game. Hayes also had several feats for himself including being in the 2018-19 All-Big 12, Big 12 All-Defense, Big 12 All-Freshman, and 2018 Big 12 ROY. It is safe to say that Hayes had a great college career. 

Draft and Early Years: 

Going into the draft, Jaxson was projected to be picked in the first round and drafted from the 4th and 14th overall pick. This estimation would turn out to be correct and he would be drafted 8th overall to the Atlanta Hawks. This makes sense since his draft comparison was Jarret Allen, the 6’9 big man for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Hawks fans viewed him as a great role player but never saw him as a primary option for the center position. During the draft, Hawks traded his draft rights to the Pelicans along with NAW (Nickeil Alexander-Walker), Didi Louzada, and a protected 2020 first-round pick. I am not going to go over his stats with the Pelicans, but his talent and potential was definitely in question. 

The HayeMaker: 

Now on to the main point of this article, we will talk about his time with the Los Angeles Lakers. Hayes took on the backup spot behind Anthony Davis in the 23-24 season. He did not have a big role like he does now and that is why I think he has not yet flourished into the center that the lakers need right now. I think the big shift in his career was when Anthony Davis and Cormac Christie were traded for Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber, and Markieff Morris. This meant that Hayes had to be the starting 5. There were questions and certain doubt for the laker fan base, but his performance threw all those criticisms out of the window. Ever since he got the starting job, he has averaged 8.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1 block, 75% from the field, 0.6 steals. These stats do not seem significant whatsoever especially from a starting center in this league. But if you actually watch the games and pay attention to what Hayes is doing on the court for the lakers, you would know that he has been a big part for us on the defensive end and great on the offensive end by getting us easy points through PNRs, lobs, or putback dunks.  

The X-Factor: 

I will prove that Jaxson Hayes is the one of the most important, effective role players on this team. I must inform you that all these stats that I will provide is when Jaxson Hayes became the starting center or when Anthony Davis got traded. And when Jaxson Hayes missed games due to injury post-AD. It is important to mention as well that when Hayes missed games, we also missed Rui Hachimura and Lebron James, so we had a desperate lack of size. We have better rebounding, a better defensive rating, better offensive efficiency, better defensive rating, and less points allowed in the paint. During the 3-game stretch when Hayes was injured, we lost all 3 of those games. When Hayes became the starting 5, our defensive rating dropped to 118.7 from 112.4. Also, when he was hurt, our offensive rating dropped to 116.8 from 110.2. Opponents also scored more in the paint during Hayes’s absence. There was an average of 55.6 points in the paint per game while he was out compared to 48.2 points in the paint while he was in the games. We also have a 52.1% rebounding percentage with Hayes being active.  

The Shift: 

Now I will talk about the shift in the play style with the lakers having Hayes start. LA has made significant changes since the AD trade, some good and some bad. We still miss having AD’s presence in the paint and his ability to be a defensive anchor. However, in my opinion, there are more good than bad things to come from the trade. Luka Doncic is one of the major sources of good things to come from the trade but let’s discuss the shift in play style outside of the presence of Luka. Since the loss of Anthony Davis, the lakers have shifted towards more of a faster pace. We are now able to do this due to Jaxson Hayes’s athleticism and motor. Hayes can play alongside Luka’s and LeBron's fantastic playmaking and mind-blowing passing which generates easy points especially when Hayes is open near the basket or is cutting to the basket. This may trigger some, but not having an elite caliber rim protecting, shot-blocking big may be for the best. I say this because since we moved to a more team-oriented defensive effort, our margin for failure on the defensive has gotten smaller, so we are now forced to make less mistakes on the perimeter or anywhere on the court. This pushes our team to play exceptional defense all around. One example that this has been shown in, is in the month of February, the same month when we got Luka, we had the #1 defense the entirety of the month. I am not at all saying that Anthony Davis harmed this team, but I am saying Jaxson Hayes is better for this current roster and play style. 

Conclusion: 

I still do think that we should acquire another center such as Jalen Duren or Nic Claxton and have Hayes as the backup. However, this popular belief should not distract you from the impact that he has had on this team. He has made the lakers a more versatile, quick-paced, and synergetic team. His energy, drive, and has been contagious and it shows in our play. Also to conclude, in no way do I mean to say that Anthony Davis himself has harmed this team. But to end this off, in my opinion, Jaxson Hayes has been enough for this current laker team.