The Lakers signed Jaxson Hayes to more than the minimum and now might have cap issues
On Sunday, it was revealed that Jaxson Hayes had signed with the Lakers for more than the minimum, which now limits what the team can do with the bi-annual exception.
The return of Jaxson Hayes to the Lakers this offseason wasn’t entirely unexpected. The contract he signed, though, is certainly a surprise.
After a strong second half of the regular season, Hayes returned to the Lakers on Thursday to serve as the backup to Deandre Ayton, a more natural role. That assumption was that Hayes had signed a one-year, veteran’s minimum.
However, Bobby Marks of ESPN reported that Hayes signed for 120% of his the six-year minimum using non-bird rights. In short, he was paid more than what was expected.
Updated Lakers offseason
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 7, 2025
*⃣Deandre Ayton and Jake LaRavia split the non-tax ML ($8.1M and $6M)
*⃣ Jaxson Hayes was signed with non-bird rights. 120% of the 6 year minimum ($3.45M)
*⃣ 13 guaranteed contracts | 2 partial/non
*⃣ The $3M Shake Milton contract is GTY on 7/20 pic.twitter.com/BJBd96cXjN
As a result of that deal, the Lakers now can’t simply waive Shake Milton and have access to the full bi-annual exception (BAE) this offseason. The team is too close to the first apron, which is a hard cap because they used the non-taxpayer mid-level exception.
I have the Lakers able to use up to $3.9M of their $5.1M Bi-annual Exception should they waive Shake Milton's non-guaranteed contract. Hayes' salary is $3.4M (120% of his 6 YOS min, though they had Early Bird)
— Eric Pincus (@EricPincus) July 7, 2025
At the same time, because Hayes is going to have either Early Bird or Bird rights at the end of his contract, he will still have an implicit no-trade clause, too.
So, what does all this mean?
Well, the only way the Lakers can use the full BAE is if they shed money in a trade. Since they haven’t made a deal and most assume there is at least one needed, this is entirely still possible.
However, as things stand, that isn’t an option.
Will that hurt them? Well, there aren’t a lot of free agents left on the market. And the Lakers also have 15 players on the roster, so moves will have to be made to sign someone anyway.
That likely is simply waiving Milton, which feels like a foregone conclusion, but that almost certainly won’t be the only move.
For now, it’s a move they could overcome. But it certainly is an eyebrow raiser as to why the team signed Hayes to more than the minimum when it sure didn’t seem like anyone else was going to try to outbid them.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on BlueSky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.