One day after finding their starting center in former No. 1 draft pick Deandre Ayton, the Lakers brought back a familiar face to fortify their big man rotation.
Jaxson Hayes will return to the Lakers on a one-year contract, a source confirmed to the Southern California News Group on Thursday.
Hayes, the No. 8 pick in the 2019 draft, originally joined the Lakers on a two-year, $4.6 million contract during the 2023 offseason.
His salary for 2025-26 wasn’t known as of Thursday evening. The Lakers are able to bring Hayes back and give him a raise from the league minimum salary he originally signed for despite being over the salary cap because they have his Early Bird Rights.
Hayes, 25, will join Maxi Kleber as the backup big men behind Ayton, who agreed to a two-year, $16.6 million contract with the team on Wednesday.
Kleber, who has a $11 million salary for next season as part of a three-year, $33 million deal that expires after 2025-26, was acquired by the Lakers as part of the Feb. 1 trade for All-Star guard Doncic. After being sidelined for three months, Kleber made his Lakers debut in Game 5 of the team’s first-round playoff series defeat to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The 6-foot-10 German big man suffered a fractured right foot that required surgery in a Jan. 25 loss to the Boston Celtics while he was still playing for the Dallas Mavericks, keeping him out until the playoffs. Kleber, whose continued recovery has gone well during the offseason, could give the Lakers another dimension in their big man rotation as a floor-spacing option. He has shot 35.4% from 3-point range (3.1 attempts) over his eight-season NBA career.
In addition to the pending re-signing Hayes and addition of Ayton, who turns 27 later in July, the Lakers also agreed to terms with 23-year-old wing Jake LaRavia on a two-year, $12 million contract.
The Lakers will be able to make their free agency moves official when after the free-agency moratorium period ends Sunday morning. They have 14 players signed to or agreed to terms on standard NBA contracts in addition to second-round draft pick Adou Thiero. Assuming Thiero also signs a standard deal via the second-round exception, the Lakers will have reached the league-maximum 15 players signed to standard deals.
Shake Milton’s $3 million salary for 2025-26 is non-guaranteed and doesn’t become fully guaranteed until July 20. Jordan Goodwin’s $2.35 million salary for 2025-26, $25,006 of which is already guaranteed, will become fully guaranteed after Jan. 10, 2026.
The Lakers are still expected to have access to the bi-annual exception after their free agency signings, which is worth $5.1 million, multiple sources told the SCNG.
Hayes stepped into the most significant role of his career as the Lakers’ starting center after the team traded perennial All-Star Anthony Davis to the Mavericks as part of the deal that brought Doncic to Los Angeles.
Initially, Hayes thrived, playing the best basketball of his young career.
The 7-foot, 220-pound big man averaged 9.3 points (78.2% shooting), 5.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocked shots in 24 games (23.6 minutes) as the Lakers’ starting center from Jan. 30 to March 27 – a period that included Davis being sidelined for a couple of games with an injury before being traded and Doncic and LeBron James being sidelined for stretches because of injury/injury management.
But as the regular season came to a close, Hayes’ playing time diminished even as he remained the team’s starting center.
Hayes averaged just 17 minutes over the final eight regular-season games he played in, recording 4.6 points (on 64% shooting) and 5 rebounds, as the Lakers relied even more on center-less lineups during the season’s final stretch.
And his time on the court was reduced even more during the playoff series against Minnesota: eight minutes played in Game 1; nine minutes in Games 2 and 3; and just four in Game 4 before being taken out of the starting lineup and receiving a DNP-CD (did not play – coach’s decision) in the Lakers’ season-ending Game 5 loss.
“They told me and were straight with me, just saying just to stay ready and they were going to try some other things out,” Hayes said of the coaching staff’s decision to decrease Hayes’ role in the playoff series during his end-of-season press conference. “That’s a coach’s decision, so I respect that.”
Hayes, 25, finished the series with more fouls (eight) than he did points (seven), and had just as many fouls as rebounds and shot attempts in 30 minutes, with bad habits popping back up at the worst time.
“I feel like I grew a good amount … just on the defensive end, stepping up and showing I can compete at the high level, and not just be a backup for a team,” Hayes said. “I feel like I showed I can be out there playing more. Obviously, there’s still a ton I need to work on. But I felt pretty good through the regular season.”