2026-27 projection
| GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | 3PM | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | 12.0 | .720 | .650 | 0.0 | 4.5 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.4 |
- 9-cat: 190-250; points: top 190-250; dynasty: 240-350.
- Role: matchup-dependent backup center for Utah Jazz.
- 2025-26 baseline: 66 games for the Lakers, 18.3 minutes, 7.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.8 blocks, and .756 FG. ESPN player stats, accessed 2026-07-18
Fantasy thesis
Utah signed Hayes to a two-year standard contract July 9. Axios describes his athleticism as a complementary contrast to Nurkic's craft, but Filipowski, Bamba, and Jackson all compete for the same minutes. NBA movement data, accessed 2026-07-18 · Axios roster overview, 2026-07-13
Ceiling: a Nurkic absence gives Hayes 22 minutes and FG%/blocks streaming value. Floor: loses the backup battle and plays only in selected matchups.
Career record
Pre-NBA: One season at Texas in 2018-19, averaging 10.0 points and 5.0 rebounds on .728 shooting, named Big 12 Freshman of the Year, second-team All-Big 12 and Big 12 All-Defensive. He hurt his left knee in the Big 12 tournament and declared for the draft in April 2019. Draft: 2019, first round, 8th overall by Atlanta; rights traded immediately to New Orleans in the package that sent De'Andre Hunter to the Hawks.
| Season | Age | Team | GP | MPG | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | 3PM | FG% | FT% | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | 19 | NOP | 64 | 16.9 | 7.4 | 4.0 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 0.0 | .672 | .647 | 0.8 |
| 2020-21 | 20 | NOP | 60 | 16.1 | 7.5 | 4.3 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.1 | .625 | .775 | 0.7 |
| 2021-22 | 21 | NOP | 70 | 20.0 | 9.3 | 4.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.3 | .616 | .766 | 0.8 |
| 2022-23 | 22 | NOP | 47 | 13.0 | 5.0 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | .551 | .699 | 0.7 |
| 2023-24 | 23 | LAL | 70 | 12.5 | 4.3 | 3.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.0 | .720 | .622 | 0.6 |
| 2024-25 | 24 | LAL | 56 | 19.5 | 6.8 | 4.8 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.0 | .722 | .622 | 0.8 |
| 2025-26 | 25 | LAL | 66 | 18.3 | 7.5 | 4.1 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.0 | .756 | .653 | 0.5 |
| Career | 433 | 16.7 | 6.9 | 4.0 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.1 | .665 | .689 | 0.7 |
Seven seasons, never more than 20 minutes a game in any of them. The defining number is efficiency: .665 for his career and above .720 in each of the three Lakers seasons, because essentially every shot is a dunk or layup. He abandoned the three-point attempt entirely after 2021-22. Utah signed him on July 10, 2026 to a two-year, $12 million deal with a team option on the second year.
Durability: 64, 60, 70, 47, 70, 56, 66 games. He has never missed a season and has cleared 60 games in six of seven years, but has also never played a full one — the pattern is a reliably available reserve who loses 10 to 20 games a year to assorted minor absences. The one significant dip, 47 games in 2022-23, coincided with his smallest role in New Orleans.
Trajectory: A former top-ten pick who settled, by his mid-twenties, into a stable and narrow identity: a vertical rim-runner who finishes everything, blocks under one shot a game, rebounds adequately, and shoots poorly enough from the line that his FG% is only half a category asset. Nothing in seven seasons suggests untapped upside; 2025-26 was essentially his 2019-20 rookie line at better efficiency. In Utah he is behind Nurkic and contesting backup-five minutes with Filipowski, Bamba and Jackson, which makes his fantasy case entirely conditional — a Nurkic absence lifts him to roughly 22 minutes and turns him into a FG%-and-blocks streamer, and nothing short of that puts him on a standard-league roster.
Career sources: ESPN career stats · Wikipedia · ESPN bio
Open questions
- Is Hayes or Filipowski first off the bench at center?
- Can Hayes rebound well enough for a team that lost Kessler?