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What happened to Deandre Ayton? Live injury updates for Lakers vs. Nuggets on Thursday 3/5/26

What happened to Deandre Ayton? Live injury updates for Lakers vs. Nuggets on Thursday 3/5/26

Los Angeles Lakers NBA

Updated:

By: Stan Son

UPDATE: Ayton has been ruled out for the remainder of the game due to a knee injury. There’s been no mention of when or how the injury occurred.

With 7:30 left in the first quarter of Thursday’s game against the Denver Nuggets, Deandre Ayton was replaced by Jaxson Hayes. Late in the second quarter, Ayton went to the locker room for an undisclosed reason.

Prior to exiting, Ayton contributed two rebounds in five minutes of action.

Hayes would be the biggest beneficiary if Ayton is out and he’s frankly been much better. That said, it’s highly unlikely Hayes sees anywhere near 30 minutes of action, so JJ Redick would likely go small at times with either Rui Hachimura or Jarred Vanderbilt as the small-ball center.

Stan Son
Stan joined DraftKings in December of 2020. It was a glorious time, except for that whole COVID thing, when we got Madden streams and boisterous bat flips from the KBO. I was brought on board to bring some West Coast flavor. I especially love hoops, and most of my content is in that arena. When I walk along the beach, strumming my guitar, the beat that I hear is not one of crashing waves. No, it is the beat of the ball bouncing off the hardwood with highs provided by the squeaks of the sneakers. Ball is life.
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