What has been an open secret for months is about to come to fruition: Jaxson Hayes will play for the Slovenia national team. According to Basketnewsthe Lakers center is finishing formalizing the relevant paperwork for his nationalization and thus accompany Luka Doncic, his teammate in LA, already in one of the next Windows qualification for the 2027 World Cup. Slovenia will play a double duel against the Czech Republic in February and March, in the middle of the NBA season, but the next games are already in July, against Estonia and Sweden. Players from the American league could be available there. For now, Slovenia is 1-1 after losing on its home court against Estonia and beating Sweden in Gothenburg.
Hayes is 25 years old and American (from Norman, Oklahoma). In October, he himself acknowledged that he was beginning the process to obtain a Slovenian passport. He is a 2.13 interior who was selected with the number 8 in the draft in 2019 due to their exceptional physical conditions. But it came very verde to the NBA after one year at the University of Texas and disappointed with the Pelicans. In 2023 he signed with the Lakers, where This season he is giving a good level as a rotation center: 6.5 points and 3.9 rebounds. He is a player with a lot of capacity for vertical gamewhich makes him a good complement for Doncic, who always maximizes interiors capable of taking advantage of his assists.
In 2021, Hayes was arrested for a case of domestic violence with the aggravating circumstance of resisting authority. The NBA did not impose any sanction on him, but in 2024 TMZ published a video of the security cameras that recorded the incident that led to the arrest and in it the player was seen attacking his then partner, spitting on her and preventing her from leaving the house while she told him that she was not going to let him hit her anymore: “You think I’m a punching bag?”. The NBA then opened another investigationbut there has been no more news about it.
Hayes, who will participate in the next All Star 2026 dunk contest (held in Los Angeles) He was already on the Lakers roster last season, when Doncic arrived traded in February. And he shares an agent with the point guard. When it became known that he could be chosen to play as a naturalized player for Slovenia, the Federation of the Balkan country recognized that it was looking for “a solution to provide long-term stability to the center position”.
Slovenia is fighting for a place in the next World Cup in a group that includes the Czech Republic, Sweden and Estonia. The first three will play a second phase against three from a group that includes France, Hungary and Belgium. From this new group, three will qualify for the world championship. In addition to the July Window, there is a first of the second phase in which the NBA may also be present, from August 24 to September 1. The player was very clear in recognizing that I wanted to experience that level of competition and I couldn’t do it with the United States.: “Obviously, I would like to play for the country I was born in, but this is what it is.”
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Slovenia had Anthony Randolph, also an American, in the team that was European champion in 2017with Goran Dragic as the star and a very young Doncic as the squire. Then Mike Tobey (New Yorker, 2020 Olympian) and Josh Nebo joined the team. (Texan), who played in the 2024 Olympic Qualifiers but could not be in the last Eurobasket due to injury. Everything indicates that the next one will come from the NBA and it will be Hayes, who has the advantage of already knowing what it is like to play with Doncic on the Lakers.
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