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Tim MacMahon: Source: The Jazz are signing former Lakers center Jaxson Hayes to a two-year, $12 million deal. The second season is a team option.
" I won't hide it, if you don't win the title, it's a bad season. We've been unlucky with injuries, myself included, after we played some great basketball in March. It's going to be a long time before next season. I hope it's better for us ." His club teammate, 2.13 m tall American center Jaxson Hayes , recently received Slovenian citizenship. " I wasn't involved in these talks at all. He's a good guy and that's what he is as a player. Otherwise, we have a young team that gives us hope. I want them to keep winning. I'm not afraid they won't succeed ."
Sure, there is LeBron James and Austin Reaves, two of the biggest names available. But there are, too, veterans like Luke Kennard and Marcus Smart, and swing pieces like Rui Hachimura and Jaxson Hayes. That means that the Lakers will have some choices to make. Increasingly, word is that the Lakers like a lot of the players they have on hand, and rather than making sweeping changes to the roster, could instead bring back a lot of last season’s players with just one midrange addition worth in the $20 million AAV range, likely for a big man. Making choices on getting rid of players who helped on the floor and in the locker room–Smart and Hachimura, perhaps–won’t be easy. “They have cap space and that’s a great position to be in,” one Western Conference executive said. “But they really like their group. They’re going to have to make a painful decision or two with that roster.”
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Dave McMenamin: Here's an example of JJ Redick being detail-oriented during the playoffs. In Gm 3, Jaxson Hayes was in at the end of the 4th Q and made a crucial stop on Alperen Sengun. To start OT, Redick subbed Deandre Ayton back in for Hayes. Why? "DA's been elite at winning the opening tip"
Dave McMenamin: “He’s been a big key in both these games. … DA and I had a conversation today, it was, ‘You didn’t do anything wrong, that’s not the reason you didn’t finish the game. It’s just the group out there was winning.’” - JJ Redick on going with Jaxson Hayes over Ayton to close Game 2
“He’s been a big key in both these games. … DA and I had a conversation today, it was, ‘You didn’t do anything wrong, that’s not the reason you didn’t finish the game. It’s just the group out there was winning.’” - JJ Redick on going with Jaxson Hayes over Ayton to close Game 2 pic.twitter.com/UnqfEHgsME
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 23, 2026
“Them helping out guys on the bench and just watching the game from that view,” Lakers reserve center Jaxson Hayes said. “You can see different things that you don’t necessarily see when you’re in the game. They’re able to tell guys stuff and help out as much as possible.”
On Monday, after the Lakers team practice ahead of their Game 2 matchup with the Houston Rockets in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, Hayes said he had received his Slovenian passport, thereby making him eligible to suit up alongside his teammate, Luka Doncic, for the Slovenia men’s national basketball team. “We got my Slovenian passport,” Hayes said, grinning. “It really came through. Luka’s been calling me ‘my Slovenian brother.’ He says it all the time.”
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Team USA’s roster is constructed by invite only, and Hayes isn’t likely to receive one soon. There’s just one problem. Hayes doesn’t know the language and everything he’s learned from Doncic has been curse words. “I don’t know a single word,” Hayes admitted, laughing. “Actually I know a few… but I can’t say them out loud.”
Dave McMenamin: “It's nice getting a few days off. Especially with my job, I jump a lot and I run a lot, so it's hard for me to rest something like that. Getting those days off was very much needed” - Jaxson Hayes on how his sore left foot has improved after missing the last four games
“It's nice getting a few days off. Especially with my job, I jump a lot and I run a lot, so it's hard for me to rest something like that. Getting those days off was very much needed” - Jaxson Hayes on how his sore left foot has improved after missing the last four games pic.twitter.com/VHVQ5ukaGz
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 14, 2026
Benjamin Royer: Jaxson Hayes said he could sense that JJ Redick could be a good coach when they were teammates in NOLA. I asked him if he felt the same way about Marcus Smart: "I could definitely see Marcus being a coach. I feel like him- (Hayes paused)." "Probably just him on the team."
