Before the Lakers faced the Clippers tonight, their head coach, JJ Redick, spoke to the media about the injury situation with Deandre Ayton. The Lakers’ big man injured his knee after playing only 13 minutes during their last game in the 108-106 win over the Jazz.
“He got hit on his knee, MRI was clean other than a bit of swelling and a little bit of a bruise. So don’t think it’s going to be a long-term thing, hopefully it’s a game-to-game thing, and he’ll be back sometime by the end of this week,” said Redick during the conference.
Therefore, he should be back in action for the Lakers’ game against the Suns on Monday night (December 1), next week, if not against the Pelicans themselves on Sunday night (November 30) in the first of their back-to-back games in a few days.
The Lakers’ big man has averaged 15.5 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 0.9 assists while shooting 69.6% from the field. He has been the nightly double-double threat, who is a dominant force on the boards and inside the paint on lobs.
He also missed practice before the Jazz game due to illness. Other than Ayton, all players are expected to be available in this game for the Lakers. Jaxson Hayes will be taking his role as a starter tonight with Rui Hachimura and their big three of LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves.
The purple and gold will be without their star big man tonight as LeBron James prepares to go head-to-head with Chris Paul in what could be one of their final meetings in their basketball career, as Paul confirmed his retirement intentions at the end of this season.
Lakers Plans To Stop Ivica Zubac Without Deandre Ayton
During the pre-game press conference, head coach JJ Redick also addressed how the Lakers plan to use their other assets to stop Ivica Zubac, the Clippers center who will have the size advantage inside the paint today in Ayton’s absence.
“He can hurt you in a number of ways. He can hurt you in the pocket, in the post, on the glass. I think physically we’ve got to be able to match, and sometimes it might be two guys,” said Redick of Zubac.
“Tape from last year when we played a lot of small ball and really emphasized our getting rebounds, we did a nice job with that. And in one of the games, he still had 27 (points) and 16 (rebounds). So he’s a really good player, and we’re going to have to be very physical with him. It’s going to take multiple bodies,” Redick concluded.
Zubac has so far averaged 17.0 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 2.4 assists this season while shooting 62.1% from the field, making him a nightly double-double threat.
The Lakers will have to go back to playing last last season essentially and hope that doubling Zubac is sufficient to stop the Croatian big man from getting another monster double-double against them.
