pregame. “Night to night, it will be different. Jaxson is our backup 5. But there may be times that we play small, it’s just the reality.

“(Finney-Smith) has shown he can guard up. Rui has really improved from where we were three months ago, playing him at the 5 in our first preseason game to where he is now. He’s gotten a lot of work and a lot of reps. Credit to him and Beau Levesque, who’s his (player development) coach. They’ve put in a lot of work on it and he’s gotten a lot better there. And we know Doe can obviously play at the five as well. So excited to have options for sure.”

Redick said it was to be determined what Hayes’ workload would look like after last playing in the Nov. 26 road loss to the Phoenix Suns.

“He had his best stretch defensively prior to the initial injury,” Redick said. “No one played defense in that Phoenix game when he got re-injured. But he had a 10-day stretch where, four or five games, on both sides of the ball was awesome. And what we’ve tried to do is create simplicity with some nuance in game planning stuff. The simplicity has helped our guys. And I think the simplicity has, well, will help him on that side of the ball. I’ve been looking forward to having him back. And I’m excited he’s back in the lineup. Christian did an outstanding job, given the circumstances. He built a lot of trust with our staff and with his teammates.”

VINCENT OUT

Backup guard Gabe Vincent wasn’t available on Tuesday because of a strained left oblique, the same injury that forced him into an early exit from Saturday’s home win over the Sacramento Kings.

With Vincent out, Shake Milton, who the Lakers also acquired in the trade with the Nets on Sunday, was expected to be in the rotation.