EL SEGUNDO — Star guard Luka Doncic and center Jaxson Hayes could be teammates on another team than the Lakers.
Hayes confirmed after Sunday’s practice that he’s pursuing a Slovenian passport with the hopes of playing alongside Doncic on the Slovenian national team as a naturalized player.
Generally, naturalized players are foreign-born players who obtain citizenship/a passport in a country to play on its national team, usually after turning 16. FIBA national teams are usually allowed to have one naturalized player on their roster per game.
Doncic and Hayes are both represented by longtime agent Bill Duffy.
“My parents, [Doncic’s] parents are kind of all working on it right now,” Hayes said. “But they came to me with the idea. Each national team gets like one naturalized player or something like that. They brought that to my attention. [Team] USA doesn’t do open tryouts. And I feel like there [are] guys they invite to the USA [team] that shouldn’t be there. So I wanted to just play on that stage. So I’m going to do whatever it takes to play on that stage.”
The Basketball Federation of Slovenia said last week in a statement to Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV SLO), which is Slovenia’s national public broadcasting organization: “As we have already mentioned, the Basketball Association of Slovenia is looking at the possibility of a new naturalization of a basketball player in the center position. We are striving to secure a new naturalized player for a longer period of time, thereby ensuring the stability of the national team in the coming years. At this stage of the procedure, we understandably cannot yet talk about names or details. When all matters are finally agreed upon and the procedures are successfully completed, we will inform the public about this.”
At just 25 years old, the 7-foot Hayes fits the type of player Slovenia is looking for – in addition to the chemistry Hayes and Doncic have developed since the Lakers acquired the 26-year-old star in February.
“I looked at my USA basketball experiences and I had a bunch of ’em starting in high school with the training camp in Colorado Springs, and then two World Championships, 19-U, 21-U and then three summers with the national team and select team – they were all invaluable to me because you’re learning around great players,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said.
“And then you’re also learning a different way to play in some ways. [The] international game is very different. For [Hayes], if it ends up happening, getting that connection and chemistry with Luka would be awesome.”
Slovenia is coming off a quarterfinal finish in EuroBasket this summer.
The next two major international basketball competitions are the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Qatar and the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
“It seems [from] the comments they all love it,” Hayes said of the response from Slovenian fans. “I mean, Luka and his family have been talking about it [the] past year and a half. I’m just excited. Obviously, I would love to represent my own country, but we don’t do open tryouts. It is what it is.”
STATUS UPDATE
Hayes said he suffered a “light” sprain in his right wrist during Friday’s preseason finale against the Sacramento Kings after an and-one, alley-oop dunk in the first quarter of the loss, but he expects to be good for Tuesday night’s regular-season opener against the Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena.
“I just fell and I tried to catch myself and messed up this little sprain,” Hayes said. “Being a dummy, I shouldn’t have tried to catch myself, should’ve just fallen.
“It’s natural to do, but it’s not a good thing to do. You’re most likely going to hurt your wrist nine times out of 10 if you try to catch yourself falling.”
Redick said second-year guard Bronny James (ankle) and rookie forward Adou Thiero (left knee swelling) were modified participants during Sunday’s practice.
Two-way guard Chris Manon fully participated in practice on Sunday after suffering a Grade 2 ankle sprain during camp that sidelined him for preseason play.