The Lakers are entering what’s expected to be the first full season of LeBron James and Luka Doncic as teammates.
Doncic was their big pickup last season, but they continued to tweak their roster this summer, making additional impactful moves.
DeAndre Ayton and Marcus Smart were signed after their previous team bought them out.
Adding talent to the roster can always help, but the Lakers could have some unexpected internal growth on their roster without even having to make a move.
What internal growth might lead to a change?
The Lakers re-signed Jaxson Hayes, who will return for his third season with the team. The former 8th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft will enter his 7th season in the NBA.
Hayes averaged 19.5 minutes last season, but could have an important role after a recent video surfaced of him in an offseason workout.
MORE: Luka Doncic reveals shocking sacrifice made this offseason in weight loss journey
The clip shows him comfortably knocking down threes from the top of the key.
Hayes isn’t exactly known for his three-point shooting, as the seven-footer hasn’t made a three-pointer since the 2022-23 NBA season.
That being said, he doesn’t take many threes, with just 11 attempts as a Laker.
His highest volume season was in 2021-22, when he shot 20/57 (35.1%) from three-point range, with the Pelicans.
Offseason workout videos can be deceiving, but it’s better to see a player succeeding in an area he’s not particularly good at, rather than not working on it at all.
Hayes didn’t attempt a single three-pointer in his collegiate career, so there’s no expectation for him to be elite in that area.
If Hayes can even start to slowly bring back the three-ball into his game, as we saw a bit in his Pelicans days, it could open up doors that the Lakers weren’t originally anticipating.
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