The Los Angeles Lakers will be without center Jaxson Hayes for at least the next few games.
Hayes sustained a left ankle sprain in practice Tuesday and will miss Wednesday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies, the team said. Hayes will be evaluated again in one to two weeks.
The injury is the latest the Lakers are dealing with among their centers. Christian Wood is still recovering from offseason knee surgery, and Anthony Davis was poked in the eye Sunday in their 121-103 win over the Toronto Raptors. Davis left that game early and was cleared to play Wednesday night, though it was the same eye in which he sustained a corneal abrasion twice last season.
Hayes has averaged 6.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game this season, his second with the Lakers after spending his first four seasons in the league with the New Orleans Pelicans. The 24-year-old had a season-high 12 points and six rebounds in Sunday’s win over the Raptors, too. Hayes stepped in to help replace Davis down the stretch of that contest after Davis’ eye injury.
Wood won’t be back anytime soon for the Lakers, either. Wood underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee in September to fix a knee issue that was bothering him at the end of last season. Wood has started experiencing soreness in his knee in recent days and will now be out for at least another month.
Outside of Davis, the only other center on the Lakers’ roster is two-way player Christian Koloko — who was cleared to play by the league after missing all of last season with a blood clot issue. He’s appeared in two games for the Lakers this season and one with their G League affiliate.
The Lakers enter Wednesday night’s game with a 6-4 record, and they’re coming off back-to-back wins. They will open the NBA Cup, which started across the league Tuesday, on Friday against the San Antonio Spurs.
