Under the bright late-game pressure of a Lakers win over the New Orleans Pelicans, jaxson hayes ended up on the floor when it mattered most—closing the game not as a placeholder, but as a choice. The moment carried the quiet weight of a season’s worth of work: a player once benched in a playoff series last year now being trusted to finish a tight one.
What did JJ Redick say about Jaxson Hayes after the Pelicans win?
Lakers head coach JJ Redick used his postgame media availability to underline that the progress he sees is real, specific, and earned.
“Jaxson’s had a really good season, ” Redick said. “I know I played with him his first two years. He’s a better basketball player. He’s gotten better. He’s making touch shots around the rim. He’s making great pocket decisions. He’s a good basketball player that, frankly, he consistently injects energy into the group when he runs the floor, blocks a shot or gets those dunks. ”
Redick’s vantage point is layered: he has worked with Hayes both as a coach and as a former teammate on the New Orleans Pelicans when Hayes was a rookie. That history sharpened the praise into something more pointed than a routine compliment—less about a single night, more about a player becoming “better” in ways a coach can trust in consequential minutes.
How did jaxson hayes earn closing minutes over Deandre Ayton?
In the win over the Pelicans, Redick opted to close the game with Hayes, choosing him over the Lakers’ other center option, Deandre Ayton. That decision mattered because it wasn’t symbolic. It was tactical: Hayes validated it by producing “multiple stops” against Zion Williams during what was described as an impressive fourth-quarter defensive performance by the Lakers.
It’s a snapshot of what the Lakers have asked him to be this season—effective in a backup role, ready for bursts of high-impact work, and steady enough to stay on the floor when matchups and momentum tighten. Hayes has embraced that backup lane, and the closing stretch against the Pelicans turned that acceptance into leverage: the kind of shift that can reshape how a rotation feels from the inside.
What does this season reveal about Hayes’ growth and the Lakers’ trust?
The arc of this season is hard to separate from last year’s ending. After getting benched in the Lakers’ playoff series last year, “most assumed” Hayes’ time in Los Angeles was close to done. Instead, he returned on a one-year deal and spent the summer preparing to be a better version of himself, adding 20 pounds to gain strength—a change the team believes has “paid off. ”
On the production side, Hayes is having what Redick called a “really good season, ” averaging 6. 7 points per game while shooting a career-best 77% from the field. Over a broader season sample, he has played in 51 games, starting in seven, averaging 17. 3 minutes per game with 4. 0 rebounds per game, while maintaining 77. 0% shooting. Those numbers sketch a role player’s reality: not built on volume, built on converting chances and staying within the team’s needs.
But the more human angle sits behind the percentages. It would have been understandable if Hayes didn’t return to Los Angeles at all—or if he treated the season as an audition designed mainly to secure a contract elsewhere. Instead, the picture presented by the team’s recent stretch is of a player pushing for improvement and leaning into the less glamorous ask: energy, rim runs, physicality, and the willingness to be ready without demanding the spotlight.
That approach has consequences for a locker room and a coaching staff. Redick’s praise emphasized the small skills that translate into trust: “touch shots around the rim” and “great pocket decisions, ” alongside the visible bursts—running the floor, blocking shots, finishing dunks. The Lakers have had close games where Hayes was one of the five players on the floor helping them win, and the Pelicans finish provided the clearest version of that reality.
The larger question hovering in the background is role stability. The Lakers are still searching for their answer at starting center, and while Hayes is thriving as a backup, there are hints in the way his season is framed: Redick appreciates the energy, but also recognizes there are flaws that can limit full-time starter usage. At the same time, the season has opened a door that didn’t seem available a year ago—Hayes even making a case, at least in conversation, to be the starting center.
There is also a contractual edge to all of it. Hayes is slated to be a free agent again this offseason, and it remains unresolved whether the Lakers will bring him back to fill the same role behind whoever starts at center. For now, the only certainty is operational: he has entrenched himself in the rotation, and if his play holds, the expectation is that when the playoffs arrive, he will remain on the floor as an impactful option for Los Angeles.
Image caption (alt text): jaxson hayes closes a tight Lakers win over the Pelicans as JJ Redick praises his growth and energy.
Back in the closing minutes of that Pelicans game, the scene is simple: a coach makes a choice, a player answers with stops, and a season’s worth of preparation suddenly has a public proof point. Whether it leads to a bigger role or a new contract isn’t settled here. What is settled is that jaxson hayes has moved from being an assumption—someone people thought was finished in L. A. —to being, in the moments that decide a night, someone the Lakers can trust.
