Lakers surprisingly bring back once-unhappy player

One Los Angeles Lakers player is putting his ego aside and returning to the team.

Veteran center Jaxson Hayes has agreed to re-sign with the Lakers in free agency, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Thursday. Hayes is getting a new one-year deal from the team, which gives him an implied no-trade clause too.

The decision by the former lottery pick Hayes, 25, is a surprising one. Hayes was the Lakers’ starting center for a good chunk of last season, averaging 6.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 0.9 blocks per game overall. But the seven-footer was wholly unplayable in certain matchups and fell out of the rotation entirely down the stretch of the Lakers’ first-round playoff loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Just a few weeks ago, we heard that Hayes was unhappy with the Lakers over his reduced role and the money that it presumably cost him in free agency. The Lakers also moved in a different direction at the center position earlier this week by signing former No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton to a multiyear deal.

But it is possible that Hayes, a fundamentally unsound defender who does not have a lot of foot speed, did not attract much interest on the free agent market. On top of the limitations in his game, Hayes comes with some baggage, including an alleged domestic violence incident and subsequent altercation with police in 2021.

Now Hayes has decided to give it another go with the Lakers. He will be the primary backup center behind Ayton and may even get a chance to reclaim the starting job if Ayton’s own reported character concerns become an issue once again.