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    • 1 month, 2 weeks ago
    NBA COACHES HAVE GREAT RESPECT FOR LUKA DONCIC!
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    March 7, 2026
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      1 month, 2 weeks ago

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    • 1 month, 2 weeks ago

    LAKERS DOMINATE PACERS 128-117!
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    March 7, 2026
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    • 1 month, 2 weeks ago
    Lakers Cannot Trust Deandre Ayton! It's Jaxson Hayes & Maxi Kleber Time
    Articles, Posts
    March 6, 2026
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    If the Los Angeles Lakers want to hold onto the #6 seed in the West, they need to realize they cannot trust Deandre Ayton and the time has come to bench him and welcome a Jaxson Hayes and Maxi Kleber center rotation.

    Frankly, the skillsets of Jaxson Hayes and Maxi Kleber are both better fits for what the Lakers need from the center position than Deandre Ayton, who’s become frustrated and disenchanted with his role on the Lakers.
    Deandre Ayton’s skillset was never a great fit for the Lakers, who need an elite two-way center who can protect the rim and guard in space on defense and be a 3-point floor spacer and athletic vertical lob threat on offense.

    A diverse and talented center rotation of Hayes and Kleber gives the Lakers everything they need to compete for a championship: rim protection and switchability on defense and vertical lob threat and spacing on offense.
    Next summer, the Lakers will likely pursue a modern starting center who can do everything at both ends of the court but for the rest of this season and the playoffs, the time has come for a Hayes and Kleber center rotation.

    Between Kleber’s back and Ayton’s knee, the Lakers could be down to justS Hayes starting and James as his backup tonight against the Pacers at home. I’d love the Lakers to play Jaxson Hayes and Maxi Kleber at center tonight.
    To be honest, Jaxson has been outplaying Ayton by a wide margin, posting a team best +112 plus/minus since the start of the new year vs. Ayton’s team worst -62 plus/minus. Last night’s game was likely Ayton’s last as a starter.

    So let’s take a deeper dive into what Jaxson Hayes starting at center and Maxi Kleber backing him up could mean for the Lakers’ starting lineup and 9 or 10-man rotation their chances of holding onto the #6 seed in the west.

    JAXSON HAYES AS STARTING CENTER

    …

    The 5-player Lakers’ lineup of Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Marcus Smart, LeBron James, and Jaxson Hayes has only played 21 minutes in 5 games but has an excellent 122.9 offensive, elite 102.2 defensive, and +20.7 net rating.

    With just 20 games remaining, the Lakers cannot afford to continue to trust Deandre Ayton. If they want to hold onto th3 #6 seed in the West, they need to put their 5 best players on the court, which means Hayes over Ayton. The Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Marcus Smart, LeBron James, and Jaxson Hayes starting lineup would be the first time this season that the Lakers started the 5 players on their roster with the highest personal plus/minus.

    Ayton averaged 27 mpg while Hayes averaged only 17 for a total of 45 mpg. Since neither Hayes nor Kleber has recently averaged 20 minutes per game, the duo will likely each play around 20 mpg with small ball getting 8 mpg.
    In his 27 mpg, Ayton has averaged 12.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.9 blocks, and 0.6 steals. In their 28.5 combined mpg, Hayes and Kleber have averaged 9.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.9 blocks, and 0.8 steals.

    Despite the redundancy and inefficiency of playing Luka Doncic, LeBron James, and Austin Reaves together, Coach Redick and the Lakers need the to find the right two starters to unlock the juggernaut in their Big Three. Marcus Smart has been everything the Lakers could have hoped for and is replicating his Celtics’ DPOY performance while Jaxson Hayes has become the perfect athletic vertical lob threat Luka Doncic desperately needs.

    Replacing Ayton with Hayes should make the Lakers’ starting lineup better and more consistent on offense and defense and provide two gritty players who thrive on doing the tough physical dirty work makes teams winners.

    MAXI KLEBER AS BACKUP CENTER

    …

    Over the last 15 games, Maxi Kleber has produced the 6th best plus/minus on the team and the highest plus/minus among bench players. While he’s missed the last 2 games, Maxi is probably the healthiest he’s been in years.

    The Laker’ primary backups include Luke Kennard at shooting guard, Jake LaRavia at small forward, Rui Hachimura at power forward, and Maxi Kleber at center. Right now, Luka or Austin would be backup point guard.
    Redick is likely to go with a 9-man rotation at this point and cover the backup point guard minutes with one of Luka, LeBron, or Austin. That means Deandre Ayton and Jarred Vanderbilt would be out of the rotation.

    Maxi Kleber has been a impressive surprise who has made several game winning plays at center, including blocks, steals, dunks off pick-and-rolls. His history and rapport having played with Luka has been a huge plus.
    Maxi Kleber is actually a better fit for what the Lakers need than Deandre Ayton. Maxi brings positional size and physicality, vet smarts and savvy, ability to stretch the court, and experience playing with Luka Doncic.

    While Maxi’s only shooting 27.3% from deep right now, he’s a career 35.3% 3-point shooter and will be expected to give the Lakers the ability to play the 5-out sets to create maximum spacing for Luka, LeBron, and Austin.
    The Lakers have been looking for points off the bench all season long. They may finally see some positive results as their bench now includes a pair of top-10 3-point percentage shooters like Luke Kennard and Rui Hachimura.

    If he can stay healthy, Maxi Kleber could be the modern shot blocking backup stretch center the Lakers desperately need to hang onto the #6 seed in the West with just 20 games remaining in the 2025–26 regular season.

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      LakerTom
      1 month, 2 weeks ago

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      LakerTom
      1 month, 2 weeks ago

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      LakerTom
      1 month, 2 weeks ago

    • Profile picture of MongoSlade
      MongoSlade
      1 month, 2 weeks ago

      I remember saying this about this dude last summer when folks were ready to give him Most Improved & Comeback player awards and Rob Executive of the Year for signing him. I think Luka even actively recruited him.

      He was always going to let us down at the worst possible time when we needed him the most. At least it happened before the playoffs started and we have a small window to scrape something together. Ayton has the skillset to do just about everything we need from the center position but such a weak mindset. He can’t get outta his own way and probably ruined his last chance to make big money in the NBA.

      But let’s be honest with ourselves … we’re gonna get smoked by any of the top centers in this conference. Rudy Gobert is a threat to have a podium game against us. All those easy lobs that Jax thrives on seem to evaporate in the playoffs when teams are ALOT more focused & dialed-in on defense.

      • Profile picture of LakerTom
        LakerTom
        1 month, 2 weeks ago

        No question that we need a center who can protect the rim and guard in space on defense and be a floor spacer and vertical lob threat on offense. Our target should be Walker Kessler imo.

      • Profile picture of MongoSlade
        MongoSlade
        1 month, 2 weeks ago

        Word is that Ainge wants to go with a big frontcourt next season and keep Kessler but we’ll see. I’m not sure we need a floor spacer at center. Give me a grinder or borderline psychopath like Isaiah Stewart who expends maximum energy every night on defending & rebounding and we’d be fine. We need some DAWGS…

    • Profile picture of DJ2KB24
      DJ2KB24
      1 month, 2 weeks ago

      If he could do the “D” and “BLK” and “Rebound” that would be enough. He cannot and “For those reasons I am out!”

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    • 1 month, 2 weeks ago

    NO LEBRON, DEANDRE, OR MAXI TONIGHT
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    March 6, 2026
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    • 1 month, 2 weeks ago

    The loss last night dropped us a game and a half behind Denver for 5th and 14-19 against teams above .500. We’re a worse team at this point than we were last season with not too many signs of turning it around. The same old same did us in.

    1) Too much whining. If I could have the coach do one thing it would be to fine any player that stops to talk to a ref during a live ball. You can yell, you can shake your head, but it better be while your a$$ is running back down the court on defense. You stop to whine? $5,000.

    2) Not all that much sustainable intensity. The intense guys aren’t very good and the good guys aren’t very intense. Everyone says the right things and, if you watch post game interviews, they seem contrite and comprehend that there is an effort and focus issue. The effort being on defense being physical and matching the opponent’s aggression. The focus on just being active and present in the moment. Catch the ball, make the solid pass, finish the layup. Play the game.

    3) The blame game. We have a lot of excuses as to why we have lost this season. Injuries, lack of chemistry, inherent moodiness, bad officiating, and on and on. The leadership in this team, from the locker room on up, doesn’t feel up to the task of winning a banner. Too many self-inflicted wounds have established a pattern and appearance, if not true, dysfunction. I hope that we can either discover a winning mojo like yesterday or dig deep into what is missing from the team and organization and replace it. Be it player, coach, GM or whatever.

    4) LeBron passed Cap in all
    Time made field goals and will probably pass Lance Parrish for All Time regular season games played. Crazy. Still, and not diminish any aspect of his accomplishment because I think the modern NBA accounts for a lot more wear and tear, he started his career at 18. All the same, historic dude, that LeBron James. No denying that.

    5) Reaves looks off. Just not able to get past his man. Also not shooting great from three. He, along with half the team, has awful body language. The early season joy and verve had been replaced by a dour vibe. If he’s hurt and gutting it out he should consider sitting. Whatever chance we have in any playoff series will come down to having a mostly healthy team.

    5 Things: 20 games to go
    Posts
    March 6, 2026
    0

    The loss last night dropped us a game and a half behind Denver for 5th and 14-19 against teams above .500. We’re a worse team at this point than we were last season with not too many signs of turning it around. The same old same did us in.

    1) Too much whining. If I could have the coach do one thing it would be to fine any player that stops to talk to a ref during a live ball. You can yell, you can shake your head, but it better be while your a$$ is running back down the court on defense. You stop to whine? $5,000.

    2) Not all that much sustainable intensity. The intense guys aren’t very good and the good guys aren’t very intense. Everyone says the right things and, if you watch post game interviews, they seem contrite and comprehend that there is an effort and focus issue. The effort being on defense being physical and matching the opponent’s aggression. The focus on just being active and present in the moment. Catch the ball, make the solid pass, finish the layup. Play the game.

    3) The blame game. We have a lot of excuses as to why we have lost this season. Injuries, lack of chemistry, inherent moodiness, bad officiating, and on and on. The leadership in this team, from the locker room on up, doesn’t feel up to the task of winning a banner. Too many self-inflicted wounds have established a pattern and appearance, if not true, dysfunction. I hope that we can either discover a winning mojo like yesterday or dig deep into what is missing from the team and organization and replace it. Be it player, coach, GM or whatever.

    4) LeBron passed Cap in all
    Time made field goals and will probably pass Lance Parrish for All Time regular season games played. Crazy. Still, and not diminish any aspect of his accomplishment because I think the modern NBA accounts for a lot more wear and tear, he started his career at 18. All the same, historic dude, that LeBron James. No denying that.

    5) Reaves looks off. Just not able to get past his man. Also not shooting great from three. He, along with half the team, has awful body language. The early season joy and verve had been replaced by a dour vibe. If he’s hurt and gutting it out he should consider sitting. Whatever chance we have in any playoff series will come down to having a mostly healthy team.

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    • 1 month, 2 weeks ago
    AFTER LAST NIGHT, THIS SHOULD BE LAKERS STARTING LINEUP!
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    March 6, 2026
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      1 month, 2 weeks ago

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    • 1 month, 2 weeks ago

    led by Team Leader Luka we lose. Too many missed shots by him. We are going nowhere if LBJ isn’t the Leader (this year). IMHO?

    So,
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    March 6, 2026
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    led by Team Leader Luka we lose. Too many missed shots by him. We are going nowhere if LBJ isn’t the Leader (this year). IMHO?

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    • 1 month, 2 weeks ago

    IZTOK FRANKO: Lakers Game Observations: Game 62 vs Nuggets
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    March 6, 2026
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      LakerTom
      1 month, 2 weeks ago

      FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

      Close again, but still not enough

      Unlike previous games against the league’s best teams, where the Lakers often looked uncompetitive for most of the night, this time it lasted only about five minutes at the start. They fought well for the rest of the game and even made a late push, but still fell 120–113 to the Denver Nuggets.

      At this stage of the season, when the Lakers need to make a push in the standings, there are no moral victories. But a positive takeaway from this game is that the Lakers made several comeback runs and looked competitive against a very good team.

      At the end of the day, results matter most, and the Lakers dropped a game and a half behind Denver in the standings.

      Today’s notes:

      A relaxed start put the Lakers in catch-up mode all night

      Dončić vs Jokić: perpetual chess in 4-on-3 basketball (🎞️VIDEO)

      Shotmaking not at the level needed to outscore the NBA’s best offense (🎞️VIDEO)

      Scrappy effort rattles Jokić into an uncharacteristic high-turnover game (🎞️VIDEO)

      Lakers’ free-throw rate continues to decline 📉

      1-A relaxed start put the Lakers in catch-up mode all night

      The Lakers opened this game like it was still warmups, and Jamal Murray jumped on them early. Austin Reaves was late on a switch on the first ATO play and fouled Murray on a three-point attempt. Marcus Smart and Deandre Ayton repeated the same mistake a couple of possessions later, and Murray swished a wing three.

      Ayton then missed a bunny in the paint, followed by Dončić and Ayton being out of sync on a pass on the roll. Murray capped the stretch by hitting another contested three over Dončić.

      Timeout, JJ Redick. Nuggets 11, Lakers 0.

      Ayton and Dončić had another mishap on a lob pass, followed by a couple of bad defensive possessions.

      Another timeout. Denver led 16–3.

      Ayton then left the game with a knee injury, Jaxson Hayes entered for him, and the Lakers finally started playing. Without Ayton, and with Maxi Kleber missing his second consecutive game, the Lakers battled hard for the rest of the night, playing a lot of small ball while trying to catch up against Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets.

      Source: NBA official website

      They got as close as one point with two minutes left, but that early 13-point hole significantly reduced their margin for error. The Lakers needed a high-level scoring game, but only produced an OK one, which wasn’t enough despite all the effort.

      2-Dončić vs Jokić: perpetual chess in 4-on-3 basketball (🎞️VIDEO)

      When the two best advantage creators in the game, Dončić and Jokić, go head-to-head, games often come down to which team executes better in 4-on-3 situations. The Lakers doubled Jokić all night, and the Nuggets, after trying a couple of possessions against Dončić in drop coverage, quickly reverted to hedging and blitzing for most of the game.

      The Lakers scrambled around Jokić, often leaving the corner three open, which resulted in 14 Nuggets corner-three attempts, many of them wide-open looks. On the other end, Dončić and Reaves attacked Jokić all night, with the Nuggets trying to protect him by showing two defenders and leaving the role players open.

      As a result, players like Hayes, Smart, Rui Hachimura, and Jake LaRavia ended up with higher-usage games. Hayes, who did a great job attacking the rim with Jokić scrambling away from the basket, was particularly effective, scoring a season-high 19 points.

      3-Shotmaking not at the level needed to outscore the NBA’s best offense (🎞️VIDEO)

      In my first point, I mentioned that the early hole meant the Lakers needed a high-level shotmaking game to overcome the Nuggets. Dončić, James, Reaves, Hayes, Smart, and Hachimura made several good plays against Denver’s scrambling defense and mustered several runs.

      Overall, the Lakers had a good shooting night, making 43 percent of their threes, but the Nuggets topped that by shooting 45 percent and grabbing a couple of key offensive rebounds against the undersized Lakers.

      But the Lakers also missed several layups. Jake LaRavia missed all three of his open three-point looks, even airballing the last one badly. Dončić missed a couple of important shots in the fourth quarter, and Smart missed two key consecutive threes with less than two minutes remaining. Maybe James attacking the rim against a scrambling defense would have been a better option than going with Smart’s outside shot. But Smart has made several big threes for the Lakers this season.

      In the end, there were just too many missed opportunities against an offense that won’t give you many.

      4-Scrappy effort rattles Jokić into an uncharacteristic high-turnover game (🎞️VIDEO)

      Before the game, I made a deep dive into how ball control and limiting turnovers are the key elements preventing the Lakers’ good offense from catching the Nuggets’ elite one at the top of the NBA. Of course, the Lakers went out and proved me wrong by having one of their lowest-turnover games of the season while pressuring Jokić into matching his season high with nine turnovers.

      If there is one positive takeaway from this game, it is that the Lakers played with the right amount of physicality and force on defense for the second consecutive game. After making a stand against Zion Williamson in the prior game, they made several big plays against Jokić and others.

      Even more encouraging is the fact that the three main stars, Dončić, Reaves, and James, were leading the charge. Reaves had three steals and drew a charge, Dončić had four steals, and James added three steals and a block.

      5-Lakers’ free-throw rate continues to decline 📉

      I mentioned the Nuggets’ slight edge in shooting, but in the end the decisive gap came at the free-throw line. The Lakers were playing small, scrambling, and aggressively, so the foul discrepancy was somewhat understandable. The Nuggets more than doubled the Lakers’ 15 free-throw attempts, getting to the line 31 times.

      Source: Cleaning the Glass

      However, there were again several situations on Dončić’s and others’ drives that were called fouls earlier in the season but were not called here, which frustrated the Lakers as officials let play continue, something noted during the game by the Lakers’ analysts.

      Source: Raj C. post on X

      I wrote about the NBA’s league-wide declining foul rate in early January and have mentioned it in several game observations since. The Lakers are probably one of the teams most affected by this change. There is a clear decline in their free-throw rate for a team that led the NBA in that category for most of the season but has now dropped to third place.

      Dončić and Reaves have both seen a significant drop in their free-throw attempts:
      Dončić: 11.8 FTA per game (Oct–Dec) → 8.9 FTA (Jan–Mar)
      Reaves: 8.6 FTA per game (Oct–Dec) → 5.5 FTA (Jan–Mar)

      Source: Cleaning the Glass

      The trend has been clear for a while now, and the Lakers have had plenty of time to adjust. They also benefited from the same “more contact allowed” whistle in recent games against Zion and again tonight while defending Jokić. But the bigger issue, as I wrote back in January, is players once again having to adjust to a different whistle in the middle of the season. We saw the same thing happen during the 2023–24 season.

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    • 1 month, 2 weeks ago

    TIME FOR JJ REDICK TO PROMOTE HAYES AND DEMOTE AYTON!
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    March 6, 2026
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    • 1 month, 2 weeks ago

    LAKERS SUFFER ANOTHER FAILED COMEBACK!
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    March 6, 2026
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    • 1 month, 2 weeks ago

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARCUS!
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    March 6, 2026
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    • 1 month, 2 weeks ago

    LAKERS PROVE-IT-OR-LOSE-IT 8 GAME STRETCH AGAINST 6 PLAYOFF TEAMS
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    March 5, 2026
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    • 1 month, 2 weeks ago

    LAKERS' NEW WIN FORMULA!
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    March 5, 2026
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    • 1 month, 2 weeks ago

    LAKERS-NUGGETS INJURY REPORTS
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    March 5, 2026
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    • 1 month, 2 weeks ago

    MARCUS SMART HAVING A DPOY TYPE SEASON
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    March 5, 2026
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