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. pic.twitter.com/fZOeqVyo9u
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 3, 2025
Glad to see it. JJ should have done a better job countering what the Wolves did to neutralize Jax during the playoffs. I am still hoping against hope that Horford will not retire but join us. We need a stretch center in our offensive repertoire.
I am curious about what he signed for. We now have 14 under contract and only had five million available. We can cut Shake for another 3 mil. I would still like to get DeAnthony Melton if he is recovered from his injury, he is an excellent perimeter defender and can hit the 3. A minimum contract for him would be 2.8 mil. I doubt we sign another center. People forget that Kleber has been a fairly decent back up center in his career who had an injury riddled last couple of years. We also have Tre and Koloko on two ways to fill in when needed.
Vastly prefer a younger option to signing Al, need to see if we can develop talent that’s not prohibitively expensive.
Jax was pretty awesome in the regular season and, like the coach, wilted in his first taste of playoff action. No shame but the real question is if it fuels some soul searching, some early morning workout sessions and tangible on-court improvements.