The Lakers can’t catch a break. On a night its biggest stars are sidelined, they had to suffer another. Jaxson Hayes just limped off the court during the second half when the Lakers have managed to make it a neck and neck match. He seemingly tweaked it during a play. At minimum, it’s speculated he suffered a sprain. The Lakers are already down LeBron James, Maxi Kleber, and Gabe Vincent. On Monday night, they ruled out Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves so they didn’t play back-to-back games.

Hayes had Portland’s Shaedon Sharpe on him when he slipped brutally on one foot. The game paused when he was holding his right ankle and screaming in pain as players from both teams surrounded him. According to a sports medicine specialist online, it appears to be an ankle inversion sprain.

It wasn’t on Sharpe nor was there any foul. It was a horrible case of bad luck when he rolled on that ankle.

He had played less than 15 minutes by then and had scored only 4 points and 3 rebounds by then. The uglier moment was not when he fell but when JJ Redick scolded him from the sidelines before the injury.

The Lakers were severely depleted on the second of back-to-back games. Despite all odds, they won 115-123.  Deandre Ayton rallied the B-Team squad against his former team (who he had an unpleasant parting with this season) and went for 29 points. Nick Smith came off the bench and contributed 27. Losing Hayes didn’t severely impact the game.