Although the Lakers reached the Western Conference finals last season, there are still many media and fans who believe that the Lakers are simply lucky. After all, in the first round against the Memphis Grizzlies, the latter's two interior linemen, Steven Adams and Brandon Clark, were all injured. In the series with the Warriors, except for Draymond Green and Kevin Rooney, the Warriors basically had no interior line, allowing Anthony Davis to take what he wanted.
But everyone needs to admit that since the middle of last season, the overall operation of the Lakers has been the top level of the league, and there is basically no loss. The Lakers operate with two outcomes, purely depending on small wins or blood earnings. This summer, the Lakers don't have so much salary space, but they still retain the main roster framework, the rotation players are back, and a number of powerful players are introduced. Among them, the Lakers officially announced the signing of center Jaxon Hayes, the former league No. 8 pick, signed a two-year contract with the Lakers, of course, the 24-25 season has a player option, if Jaxon Hayes performs well, when the time comes, he can jump out of the contract and become a free agent again. For being able to join the Lakers, Jaxon Hayes is also very excited, and even expressed his "purple and gold army rush" on social platforms to meet a new challenge.
Jaxon Hayes was also a genius insider, in the 18-19 season he played for the prestigious University of Texas, Jaxon Hayes averaged 10 points, 5 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game, because he just passed his 19th birthday when he was drafted, coupled with Jaxon Hayes' physical fitness and athleticism, he drafted well, and finally Jaxon Hayes was picked by the New Orleans Pelicans with the eighth pick in the first round.
With the lottery zone selected and very young, Jaxon Hayes has a bright future. But his luck is really not good, because the Pelicans do not lack interior players, and also in this year they also used the top pick to draft "Fat Tiger" Cayn Williamson, plus the Pelicans have blue-collar interior linemen such as Derek Favors and Steven Adams, respectively, there is really no chance for Jaxon Hayes to perform. So even though Jaxon Hayes was in the Pelicans' main rotation for the first two years of his career, he started a total of 17 times and averaged only about 7 points and 4 rebounds per game.
In the following 21-22 season, taking advantage of the Pelicans' disorganized lineup, Jaxon Hayes got more opportunities to perform, he averaged 9.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 0.8 blocks per game, and Jaxon Hayes shot more than 60% overall, it seems that the potential rookie finally has a gradual trend, as a result, Pelicans management and coaching staff do not fully trust Jaxon Hayes, the past 22-23 season, the Pelicans have Cayn Williamson on the inside, With the likes of Jonas Valanciunas and Willie Hernangomez, Jaxon Hayes was dropped again, averaging only 5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.
So at the end of the season, almost everyone agreed that Jaxon Hayes would leave the Pelicans. Sure enough, heading into the offseason, the Pelicans refused to offer Jaxon Hayes a qualification offer, allowing him to become a full free agent this summer. It should be said that for a former No. 8 pick, such an experience is a shame, Jaxon Hayes rookie contract just ended, was abandoned by the old owner. Originally, if the Pelicans made a qualifying offer, even if other teams came to grab people, as long as the Pelicans chose to match, they could forcibly keep Jaxon Hayes. As a result, the Pelicans refused to even open a qualification offer, which is a clear indication that Jaxon Hayes is no longer in the team's future development plan, and who wants to take Jaxon Hayes directly to the free market to make an offer.
Obviously, this is a big blow to Jaxon Hayes, and at least at this stage, in fact, Jaxon Hayes is really not good, the free market door has been open for a week, Jaxon Hayes is sure of his future. To be fair, the Lakers are also a more suitable next home for him, the Lakers have lost Mohamed Bamba this summer, it can be said that Jaxon Hayes is his replacement, and Mohamed Bamba is prone to injury, Jaxon Hayes has higher attendance, and theoretical potential and talent are better. If nothing else, the Lakers' main interior rotation in the new season will still be composed of Anthony Davis, Jared Vanderbilt and Hachimura, but Jaxon Hayes as a qualified interior backup for "thick eyebrows" should not have much problem.
And Jaxon Hayes came to the Lakers, his own exposure and attention is greater, as long as he does not perform too hard, the next contract should be very guaranteed. Next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, in fact, Jaxon Hayes offensively, only needs to do a good job of eating cake under the basket and empty three-point work, of course, he has to work more on the defensive end, protect the rebound by the way, and hope that after coming to the Los Angeles Lakers, Jaxon Hayes, wearing the No. 11 jersey, can show his new self.