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LOS ANGELES -- The Lakers' already-depleted frontline just got a little thinner. Backup center Jaxson Hayes suffered a left ankle sprain in practice Tuesday, the team announced. He sat out Wednesday night's 128-123 win against the Memphis Grizzlies and will be reevaluated in 1-2 weeks. "Honestly, a freak play in practice, was against coaches," Lakers coach JJ Redick said before the Grizzlies game. "And he didn't even land on an ankle. ... It was just an awkward kind of fall, and an ankle rolled. There was no contact. I'm bummed for Jaxson." Hayes arrived at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday in a walking boot. He told ESPN the pain in his ankle already had started to subside and was hopeful he could return on the shorter end of the estimated recovery timeline. Hayes' injury followed Redick saying Tuesday that another one of L.A.'s backup big men, Christian Wood, suffered a setback while ramping up his recovery from offseason surgery on his left knee and will sit out at least another month. Hayes was coming off one of his best games of the season, posting 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting, 6 rebounds and 1 blocked shot while closing out L.A.'s win over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday after Anthony Davis was poked in his left eye and exited. The Lakers outscored the Raptors by 21 in the 21 minutes Hayes was on the court. With Hayes and Wood out, the Lakers' roster features only one center other than Davis: two-way player Christian Koloko. The former second-round pick out of the University of Arizona sat out the 2023-24 season because of a blood clot issue. Koloko saw 13 minutes of action against the Grizzlies, scoring four points. He now has played in four games since being cleared to return by the NBA's "fitness to play" panel -- 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 matchups, there may be opportunities to play small, but we're very confident and comfortable with Christian," Redick said Wednesday.
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