With Christian Wood already out indefinitely as he recovers from knee surgery and now Jaxson Hayes expected to miss at least the next week or so with an ankle sprain, the Los Angeles Lakers must two rely on Christian Koloko to play backup minutes behind Anthony Davis. According to sources with knowledge of the Lakers' plans, help isn't on the way, either.
Ironically, heading into the season, those close to Davis insisted he wanted to play less center this year. Davis thoroughly enjoyed his time playing for Team USA alongside Bam Adebayo and was hoping Rob Pelinka would note their impact defensively and bring in more help at the position. Rather than head those preferences, Pelinka brought in no veteran support to the roster at all, regardless of position.
For their part, the Lakers have held conversations with a variety of teams around the league to check in on a few targets but were met mostly with inflated prices from front offices looking to take advantage of desperation. Some of those names on the trade market have included:
- Robert Williams, Portland Trail Blazers: Williams has always had plenty of talent. The Lakers, and most other teams, are terrified about his extensive injury history.
- Myles Turner, Indiana Pacers: Yes, Indiana is off to a somewhat rough start and yes, Turner is a free agent at the end of this year, but the east is so dreadful that Indiana feels they can stay afloat and remain just as competitive as they were last year and they're confident they'll be able to work something out this summer with Turner.
- Walker Kessler, Utah Jazz: Danny Ainge's asking price is so high for Kessler that many around the league wonder if he's actually available. It would take two firsts for Kessler, a price the Lakers are not interested in paying.
- Nikola Vucevic, Chicago Bulls: Vucevic is off to a fantastic start offensively, but he still isn't very good on defense and his contract ($20M this year, $21.5 next) is considered among the worst values in the league.
Sources say the Lakers are also interested in Jonas Valanciunas and have been dating back to July, but he can't be moved until December 15, as he signed with the Washington Wizards just this summer. If Hayes hasn't healed by then or Wood's recovery continues to drag along, the chances of Valanciunas winding up a Laker increase by quite a bit — which is saying something because most around the league consider it very likely he'll be traded to L.A. as it is.
Another option for the Lakers would be to trade one of their expiring contracts into the cap space of one of the few teams that still have some and use that roster spot on a free agent. Issue there is so few teams have cap space at this point in the year and Pelinka does not like using draft capital to merely rid himself of one of his previous acquisitions. On top of that, the free agent market is so thin that the Lakers, I'm told, don't see this as a viable path forward.
Internally, the Lakers are cautiously optimistic Koloko will be able to hold down the fort in Hayes and Wood's absences. He's a similar build to Hayes, which makes stepping into that role all the easier. The concern with Koloko, obviously, is that, before this season, he hadn't played NBA minutes since 2023. Hanging your hopes on a two-way player is already risky enough. But hanging them on the hopes of a two-way player under those circumstances is pretty terrifying.
LeBron James has played some minutes at center previously, so look for some small lineups in the meantime, too. There is still no timetable for Jarred Vanderbilt's return, which is unfortunate as he would've helped in those groups too.
Another thing to keep in mind with this situation is Hayes' reopened domestic violence investigation. TMZ unearthed video of the incident earlier this month and, if the league decides Hayes wasn't honest with them in their initial investigation, they could decide to finally punish him for the incident. Initially, they decided against punishment even though Hayes pled no contest to wrongful imprisonment and resisting an officer.
If the NBA decides to punish Hayes now, L.A. may decide to cut ties with Hayes altogether, making it a nonzero possibility Hayes has played his last game as a Laker. If that's how this plays out, then perhaps the Lakers would terminate his contract with cause and have the flexibility to sign a free agent and remain under the second apron.
This was always the risk the Lakers ran by entering the season with such a thin center rotation, though they felt confident they wouldn't face this kind of situation until much later in the season, when they'd have more options. For now, they'll head into this uncertainty hoping their still-healthy centers are able to hold things down until reinforcements arrive, however that might be.
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