Lakers C Jaxson Hayes (ankle) needs to be reevaluated in 1-2 weeks

LOS ANGELES – The Lakers’ already depleted front line just got a little thinner.

Backup center Jaxson Hayes suffered a sprained left ankle during practice on Tuesday, the team announced. He sat out Wednesday night’s 128-123 win over the Memphis Grizzlies and will be reevaluated in a week or two.

“Honestly, it was a freak game against coaches in practice,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said before the Grizzlies game. “And he didn’t even land on one ankle. …It was just a nasty fall and an ankle rolled. There was no contact. I’m depressed about Jaxson.”

Hayes arrived at the Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday wearing a walking boot. He told ESPN that the pain in his ankle had already subsided and hoped he could return at the shorter end of the estimated recovery time.

Hayes’ injury followed Redick saying Tuesday that another of L.A.’s big backups, Christian Wood, suffered a setback while recovering from offseason left knee surgery and will be sidelined for at least another month become.

Hayes was coming off one of his best games of the season, scoring 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting, 6 rebounds and 1 blocked shot while capping LA’s win over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday after Anthony Davis was stabbed in his left eye was and went out.

The Lakers outscored the Raptors by 21 points in the 21 minutes Hayes was on the court.

With Hayes and Wood out, the Lakers’ roster has only one center other than Davis: two-way player Christian Koloko. The former second-round pick out of the University of Arizona had to miss the 2023-24 season due to a blood clot problem.

Koloko played 13 minutes against the Grizzlies and scored four points.

Since his return by the NBA’s Fitness to Play panel, he has now played in four games – three for the Lakers and one for the South Bay Lakers, the organization’s G League affiliate.

“We’re going to rely on Christian Koloko to fill those minutes and depending on the matchups there may be an opportunity to play small, but we’re very confident and comfortable with Christian,” Redick said Wednesday.