Jaxson Hayes Rumors

Jovan Buha: I’ve heard they have a good rapport—like, by NBA standards, a good rapport between Luka (Doncic) and Deandre Ayton. They share an agent. They were two of the top three picks in the same draft—the 2018 draft. Ayton went first, Luka went third. Their families have met each other. They have a relationship. Luka, I’ve been told, was on board with Ayton coming in. He gave the stamp of approval. He’s excited to have a pick-and-roll partner. And Deandre Ayton, for all the discourse around him, has been statistically one of the most efficient pick-and-roll finishers, lob threats, over the last few years. So I think Luka is excited—certainly an upgrade over Jaxson Hayes, let’s say. This is a guy who’s been a double-double every year of his career. Obviously, there’ve been some questions about his motor and whatnot. But I think he’s effectively in a contract year, so he’s got a lot to prove.

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Dan Woike: Jaxson Hayes waived his implicit no-trade clause to re-sign with the Lakers, sources tell @TheAthletic

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Keith Smith: The Los Angeles Lakers signing of Jake LaRavia and re-signing of Jaxson Hayes are both official.

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Trevor Lane: With a one year deal for his 3rd year with the Lakers, Jaxson Hayes will have a de facto no-trade clause. He can block any trade if he chooses. To clarify, this isn’t something specifically given to Hayes. It happens with every 1 year deal for a player getting 3 years or more seasons consecutively with any team because they acquire Bird right at that point and those would be lost with a trade. So the player has a chance to stop a trade since their Bird rights would be lost. Devean George did it back in the day. It’s also possible that Hayes could be waive these rights.

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Shams Charania: Free agent center Jaxson Hayes has agreed on a one-year deal to return to the Los Angeles Lakers, sources tell ESPN. Hayes' agents, Bill Duffy and Marlon Harrison of WME Basketball, finalized a contract with Lakers president Rob Pelinka on Thursday.

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Lakers Better: Lakers unrestricted free agent center Jaxson Hayes hasn’t ruled out a return to Los Angeles. (📸 via @iamgabevincent2 on Instagram)

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In terms of returning talent, sources say there is an outside chance of Jaxson Hayes returning, but he wasn't thrilled about his role disappearing in the postseason and the money he lost as his minutes dwindled. From the Lakers perspective, they're weighing Redick losing faith in him, how he might handle them bringing in his replacement or the inevitable demotion he'd be in line for this summer.

Clutch Points

In other words, the Lakers’ top two big men were Hayes and Jarred Vanderbilt, something that’s not going to get it done against the Western Conference playoff teams. “Can’t play Jaxson Hayes and (Jarred) Vanderbilt together at the same time,” says Griffin. “Can’t really play Austin and Luka together at the same time. That’s why their regular season was great. They had a roster that was sort of built for that. But in the playoffs, it wasn’t built for that.”

Bookmaker Ratings

But Gobert more than held his own against Dončić in isolation situations, and against the Lakers in general. Los Angeles did not start center Jaxson Hayes in Game 5, going exclusively with its preferred small lineup, and Gobert ate it up. In addition to his offensive explosion, which included eight dunks, the Wolves had a 97.9 defensive rating with him on the floor. “That’s the Rudy that can win you championships,” Mike Conley Jr. said. “When you have that type of mentality to go get every rebound, go get every block, defend every guy at the rim, we needed that. He came at the biggest moment of our season.”

New York Times

Three days after trading Anthony Davis to Dallas for Doncic, the Lakers orchestrated a deal with the Charlotte Hornets to land 7-footer Mark Williams, a tantalizing but injury-prone young center who was supposed to provide Doncic a vertical threat around the rim other than Jaxson Hayes. Williams was Doncic's preferred lob partner out of a list of potential trade targets and told the team so, sources said, after Doncic had been so effective with Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford in Dallas. The deal was agreed upon the night before the trade deadline, a buzzer-beater by the Lakers' front office after already successfully negotiating the Doncic deal and the acquisition of Dorian Finney-Smith from the Brooklyn Nets in late December. Only Williams never suited up for L.A. He failed the team's physical examination, and the Lakers "just couldn't live with what they saw," a source with knowledge of the subject told ESPN.

ESPN

Mike Trudell: Jaxson Hayes on going from starting the series to not playing tonight: "(The coaches) told me to stay ready, and they were going to try other things out. That's the coaches decision (and I respect it)." Added: "It just doesn't feel real that the season is over."

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After swapping out Dorian Finney-Smith for Jaxson Hayes in the starting lineup, the lineup of LeBron James, Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and DFS played the rest of the way. It’s a move that literally hasn’t been done before as Redick made history. But with the Lakers facing a must-win situation, an extra day of rest between Games 4 and 5 and a bench still lacking in production in the first half, Redick rolled the dice in a big way. “No, it wasn’t planned,” Redick said postgame. “We just made the decision at halftime.”

Silverscreenandroll.com

Khobi Price: JJ Redick when asked if he'd consider playing small-ball full-time:"We'll look at everything...but still believe in Jaxson [Hayes]."

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Ben Golliver: Timberwolves’ Jaden McDaniels on Lakers’ center-less lineups after Minnesota’s Game 1 win: “If [Jaxson Hayes] isn’t out there, I’m basically the tallest person out there. I don’t think no one call really rim protect me because Jaxson Hayes wasn’t on the court.”

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