Jaxson Hayes has been suspended for one game

[ASFN Admin]

On Thursday evening, the Los Angeles Lakers will return home from the eight-game Grammy road trip they just completed and face the Philadelphia 76ers at Crypto.com Arena. That means going up against former MVP and scoring champion Joel Embiid, who has been on a tear lately.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, they will be a bit short-handed in the middle for that contest, as backup center Jaxson Hayes has been suspended for one game. The reason for the suspension is somewhat odd.

Hayes pushed the mascot of the Washington Wizards prior to the Lakers' 142-111 victory in the nation's capital on Friday.

Lakers center Jaxson Hayes has been suspended one game for pushing a Wizards mascot.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 4, 2026

A video of the incident shows that Hayes gave a shove to the mascot.

Jaxson Hayes shoved Wizards mascot, G-Wiz, in pre-game introductions

Hayes has been suspended for one game, per @ShamsCharaniapic.twitter.com/x4xz2Ndw2I

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 4, 2026

The mascot reportedly did not get hurt as a result of this incident.

Embiid is a perpetual injury concern, but he's averaging 32.9 points per game in his last eight games. On the season, he's putting up 26.1 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists a game.

Expect Lakers coach JJ Redick to go to Maxi Kleber and Drew Timme more with Hayes unavailable to play on Thursday.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Jaxson Hayes has been suspended for one game

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