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Deandre Ayton #5 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on against the Portland Trail Blazers during the second half at Moda Center on November 03, 2025 in Portland, Oregon.
Veteran center Deandre Ayton has survived an injury scare, spelling good news for a red-hot Los Angeles Lakers team on a five-game winning streak.
In the lead-up to Tuesday’s NBA Cup victory over the LA Clippers, Lakers head coach JJ Redick revealed that an MRI on Ayton’s knee came back “clean” and that he hopes to have the Bahamian big man back on the court before the end of the week.
“Don’t think it’s going to be a long-term thing,” Redick said of Ayton’s injury, via Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. “Hopefully it’s a game-to-game thing, and he’s back at some point by the end of the week.”
Jaxson Hayes Steps Up
The Lakers did not miss Ayton in their 135-118 win over the Clippers, as they outrebounded their intercity rivals, 38-29, and outscored them 62-50 in paint points.
To fill the void left by Deandre Ayton, the Lakers started Jaxon Hayes at center for 30 minutes, with Maxi Kleber and two-way player Drew Timme combining for 15 minutes off the bench. While Hayes finished with eight points and four rebounds, he was excellent at setting screens for Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, and did a solid job holding Clippers star center Ivica Zubac to just 10 points.
Kleber was solid in his 14 minutes off the bench, earning praise from Redick.
“He’s very valuable for the things he’s able to do on the court because he understands who he is and all of those things that he’s really good at are complementary to our best players,” Redick said of Kleber, via OC Register.
Drew Timme’s Big Opportunity
“The other thing that he brings every single day is that he’s the best teammate for all the guys,” Reddick added of Kleber, a former teammate of Doncic.
“His spirit, whether he’s in the rotation, out of the rotation, in street clothes because he has an oblique injury, whatever it is, he’s the same guy every day. There’s a stability to him that’s really becoming increasingly hard to find in the NBA for players. There’s value in that.”
Timme, who was called up from the G League following Ayton’s injury, also has the strong backing of Redick.
“He is tremendously skilled offensively,” Redick said of Timme.
“We haven’t really had a big here as a hub, as like a passing guy that you can kind of play out of the high post with. [Anthony Davis], to an extent, but a lot of the stuff we ran for him in those spots was to get him a shot and not to be a playmaker. The thing that’s kind of underrated with [Timme] is his defensive rebounding is really good, particularly for his size. He’s produced at every level and looking forward to coaching him.”
Sai Mohan covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan
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