Rob Pelinka and the Los Angeles Lakers’ front office added a few new faces to the roster this offseason and perhaps the most intriguing is center Jaxson Hayes. The big man is an athletic, high-flying finisher at the basket who can also protect the rim on defense and should be able to provide some relief for Anthony Davis.
But Hayes does come with some unfortunate recent history off the court. In 2021, he was arrested following a domestic incident with his girlfriend in Woodland Hills. Hayes would ultimately plead no contest to two misdemeanor charges and was sentenced to three years of probation, 450 hours of community service and a year of weekly domestic violence classes in June of 2022.
Of course, something of this nature is very serious and Pelinka and the Lakers took it as such before bringing him in. Pelinka said that the team did a full vetting process in regards to the incident and felt that he handled it as well as he could and is a better person now, via Jovan Buha of The Athletic:
“I think the most important thing is we take those things very seriously and do a full vetting process,” Pelinka said. “Jaxson has been very sincere (with) his apologies around handling that and has moved beyond it to where he’s had a year or two in the NBA playing after it. It was something that we felt like he owned, took responsibility for it, and is going to be a better person on the other side of it.”
While Hayes would surely like to put that incident behind him, something like this will always bring about questions. All Hayes can do is show that he has grown from the situation and Pelinka and the Lakers believe he is already doing just that.
The Lakers are one of the most popular franchises in all of sports and everything players do while a member of this organization is magnified. The Lakers are serious about bringing in the right people and after doing their research, they believe Hayes fits that bill.
Jaxson Hayes says he signed with Lakers because they had ‘really good plan’ for him
Just as the Lakers felt Jaxson Hayes was a good fit, that feeling was mutual as Hayes believed that the Lakers were the ideal team for him in free agency as well.
In speaking on why he chose to join the Lakers, Hayes noted that the team ‘had a really good plan’ for him, adding that when looking at the roster, he felt he could play well with this team.
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