An every-night backup center remains a need for the Los Angeles Lakers as the NBA calendar is only a few weeks out from Media Day. Even after bringing in Kevon Looney, the Lakers were reportedly still interested in more frontcourt help. There would be no need for that if Jaxson Hayes just stuck around.
Hayes signed a two-year, $12 million deal to join the Utah Jazz in free agency. The move came after Los Angeles surrendered the haul they did to nab Walker Kessler away from Utah. Someone in the Jazz's front office surely had a good laugh about getting just a bit of payback by taking away a valuable role player from the Lakers.
Mind you, this is not a matter of who would you rather have between Kessler and Hayes. There is no real debate to be had in that conversation. The answer would be the man who is slated to be the starting center for Los Angeles in 2026-27, over and over again.
The real disappointment for the Lakers would be not finding a way to secure both. Hayes was far from perfect as a backup, but there was an established chemistry with Luka Doncic that should have encouraged the partnership to continue. Alas, Los Angeles could not get it done.
Losing Jaxson Hayes is already proving to be an obstacle for the Lakers
Understanding why Hayes slipped away from the Lakers is not difficult. They had money to spend, but there were larger priorities for them. They pushed hard to solve those, quickly. After bringing in Kessler, Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton, and Sandro Mamukelashvili, the money dried up fast.
Amid all that chaos, the Jazz came in with an offer above the minimum and snuck Hayes out of Los Angeles. Utah even managed to protect themselves in the process by having the second year of that deal involve a team option.
Granted, the Lakers still had Deandre Ayton on the roster at the time, so it did not immediately appear as though there was a backup center problem in Los Angeles. However, Ayton was traded only a few days later.
With the Lakers' current roster, they would be splitting the backup five minutes between Looney and Mamukelashvili. Those options are workable, but flawed all the same.
Looney is a great veteran leader who has been saying all the right things this summer. In terms of on-court effectiveness, though, there are bound to be limitations at this point of his career. Mamu gives the Lakers an opportunity to stretch the court on offense, but is a sizable question mark on defense.
Had they found a way to keep Hayes around, there would be a much more natural fit to soak up quality minutes behind Kessler. All the work done by the former Laker to secure that Slovenian passport did not manage to lock in a long-term in Los Angeles. Both sides might be worse off for it.
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