The Lakers will be down a big man on Thursday night, but not for the reasons you might think. In a wild and bizarre situation, backup center Jaxson Hayes has been suspended for one game following an incident in Friday’s game against the Wizards.
This Wednesday, the NBA announced the official punishment for Hayes in response to an act of violence against the Wizards’ mascot, G-Wiz. A video that has since gone viral online shows the moment of impact, which was completely unprompted.
Jaxson Hayes got suspended one game for pushing the Wizards mascotpic.twitter.com/NRE8Xx0wrc
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) February 4, 2026
Seemingly out of nowhere, for no clear reason at all, Hayes shoves the masot as he’s finishing a routine, using enough force to send the person crashing to the floor. Fortunately, G-Wiz was not injured in the altercation.
“Los Angeles Lakers center-forward Jaxson Hayes has been suspended one game without pay for pushing a Washington Wizards mascot during pre-game introductions,” wrote the NBA in a statement. “Hayes will serve his suspension on February 5 when the Lakers host the Philadelphia 76ers at the Crypto.com Arena.”
We’ve seen rivalries between players and mascots before, with the most obvious example being Rob Lopez. In this case, however, Hayes doesn’t have any kind of bit or routine with G-Wiz. That “attack” was entirely unplanned, unprovoked, and frankly, very brutal. It’s no surprise that many fans expressed genuine disgust at what they suspect to be a malicious act. Some even argued the suspension wasn’t severe enough…
“As a Lakers fan, I think he deserves more than just one game suspension after watching the video,” one fan wrote.
For Lakers fans, the worst part about this story is that it’s happening during peak trade season. Instead of hearing news on a new deal, their team is making headlines for all the wrong reasons…
“All this trade news flying around and the biggest thing we got from the Lakers side of things is Jaxson Hayes getting suspended for pushing a mascot,” one fan wrote in disbelief.
Of course, many fans made a more serious point, referring to Hayes’ history of domestic violence. He has a history of such actions, and this has only intensified the calls to push him out of the league entirely.
“Jaxson Hayes should be in prison, not have the luxury to still play in the NBA after beating his ex,” wrote one angry X user. “Just another domestic violence instance that the NBA continues to sweep under the rug.”
It remains to be seen how Hayes will answer for this, but he can expect a heavy line of questioning during his next media appearance. Now that this incident is out there, people aren’t going to ignore his shady history of violence, and they will want to know what motive he had to lay his hands on an unsuspecting person. Of course, in the meantime, it’s just another obstacle the Lakers have to overcome. They are already thin in the frontcourt, and Hayes’s absence will only further limit their flexibility off the bench.
