Los Angeles Lakers center Jaxson Hayes has quickly built a strong relationship with teammate Luka Doncic both on and off the court, so much so that he has been trying to get a Slovenian passport to play for their national team during the summer.
The process took a while, but Hayes confirmed after practice on Monday that the passport has been obtained, paving the way for him to play with Doncic in Slovenia:
Jaxson Hayes has obtained his Slovenian passport to play with Luka Doncic on the national team: pic.twitter.com/hSogB9EtRj
— Daniel Starkand (@DStarkand) April 21, 2026
Earlier this season, Hayes explained why this is something he wanted to do.
“We have the same agent and my parents and his parents are kind of all working on it right now,” Hayes said. “But they came to me with the idea and I think it’s each national team gets like one naturalized player, so they brought that to my attention. USA doesn’t doesn’t do open tryouts and I feel like there’s guys they invite to the USA one that shouldn’t be there and so I just wanted to play on that stage and so I’m gonna do whatever it takes to play on that stage.”
Now that Hayes is a Slovenian citizen, he can play for them in summer tournaments like the Olympics, FIBA World Cup and EuroBasket.
Representing Slovenia has always been something that is very important to Doncic, and now he will have one of his Lakers teammates by his side when he does so. Given their chemistry, adding a big man of Hayes’ caliber will certainly help Slovenia compete against the top teams in Europe and the world.
Luka Doncic praises improvement from Jaxson Hayes
Hayes has made tremendous strides in his career over the last two seasons since he started playing with Doncic, so it makes sense that he wants to join him on the Slovenian National Team. Earlier this year, Doncic praised the improvements he’s seen from Hayes in their time playing together.
“I think honestly the most improvement he did during the summer, I think was him just following us. With the pick-and-roll with me and Bron on the ball,” Doncic said. “I think just finding the right pocket, I think that’s his best improvement. Obviously, there is other stuff like blocking shots, making dunks and things like that.”
Hayes is coming off a career year with the Lakers, averaging 7.5 points and 4.1 rebounds while shooting 75.6% from the field.
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