Pelicans: What happens to Jaxson Hayes when Zion Williamson returns?

The New Orleans Pelicans made the playoffs this season without Zion Williamson and hope to be contenders next season when he returns.

The Pelicans finally got some good news about Zion, and revealed that his foot is healed and he has been cleared for basketball activities without any restrictions.

The Pelicans tried a lot of lineup combinations in Zion’s absence, but by the end of the season it was Jaxson Hayes who had taken his spot in the starting lineup. Hayes played pretty well down the stretch of the regular season, but was mostly left out of the playoff rotation even though he started every game.

Hayes made some small amount of improvement this season, but is still a guy with very limited offensive skill and one who still makes a lot of mistakes on defense. He is still very young, so will be one of the toughest decisions the New Orleans Pelicans have to make this summer.

If they decide to keep Jaxson Hayes, how will Zion Williamson’s return affect his minutes and role?

Pelicans: Zion Williamson and Jaxson Hayes

Jaxson Hayes took over the starting power forward spot alongside Jonas Valanciunas this season, but will obviously be losing that spot to Zion when he returns.

The Pelicans also landed power forward Larry Nance Jr. (the most underrated part of the CJ McCollum trade), who is a forward/center just like Jaxson Hayes and happens to be a lot better at this point in their respective careers.

Nance Jr. potentially pushes Hayes to third on the power forward depth chart, which means he is going to get limited minutes.

He could move back to backup center behind Jonas Valanciunas, but Hayes has never really been effective as a center and would still be getting limited minutes behind Jonas, who logged a ton of time this season.

There is also a chance that Hayes will just be a “super sub” type who plays big minutes in different lineups. If the Pelicans wanted to go small, he could play the four next to Nance Jr. and could also be inserted as the center next to Zion Williamson.

However, unless the Pelicans suffer injuries again, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Hayes is getting a lot of run next season, as there are just too many good players in front of him, especially as Herbert Jones and Trey Murphy III take on even bigger roles.

Of course, the Pelicans could just see next season as another developmental one for Hayes, allowing him to keep getting better before eventually taking over Larry Nance Jr.’s role as a combo center/forward.

But this would require the Pels to either extend Hayes now or let him go into restricted free agency where anything could happen and they could lose him for nothing.

The writing may be on the wall for Jaxson Hayes, who may get pushed out of the rotation when Zion Williamson returns and could be one of the Pels’ best trade assets.