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Mark Fainaru-Wada, ESPN Staff Writer
The NBA never spoke with a woman who says then-New Orleans Pelicans center Jaxson Hayes hit her in a 2021 incident that led to his arrest on domestic violence charges.
Hayes, who now plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, also was not disciplined by the NBA after his no-contest plea on misdemeanor charges of false imprisonment and resisting an officer, despite a league policy that says such a plea “will conclusively establish a violation.” For his plea in the criminal case, Hayes was sentenced to community service, one year of weekly domestic violence classes and three years’ probation.
Waukeen McCoy and Laura Stone, attorneys for Hayes’ former girlfriend, Sofia Jamora, said they remember receiving a call from a person in the NBA’s legal department investigating the incident. McCoy said he returned the call and left a message but never heard back.
“They didn’t follow up with me,” he said. “If they were actually doing a thorough investigation, they would have reached out to her lawyer and obtained info from us.”
NBA spokesman Mike Bass declined to respond to specific questions about the league’s investigation into the incident or the results.
But pressed on whether the league sought to interview Jamora, Bass said, “An NBA investigator reached out multiple times to Laura Stone, Ms. Jamora’s representative, and we did not receive a response to our outreach.”
The NBA said it had reopened the case earlier this week, after TMZ posted a 5½-minute video of an altercation between Hayes and Jamora. At the start of the video, taken by a surveillance camera at a home in Woodland Hills, California, Hayes appears to be blocking Jamora from trying to leave as she says, “No, stop, I don’t feel safe. Jaxson, stop, stop, what is your problem?” Later, Hayes can be seen pulling Jamora through a door as she says, “Stop, let go of me.” He responds, “What the f—‘s wrong with you?”
Shortly after, out of view of the camera, Jamora can be heard crying, “Get out, please,” as another man in the house tries to calm Hayes and remove him from the situation. Later, in video showing Hayes and Jamora outside the house, Jamora says, “I’m not going to let you hit me anymore. What the f— do I look like, a punching bag?” At the end of the video, Hayes pushes Jamora and then turns back and appears to spit at her.
Ultimately, police were called to the scene, and bodycam footage showed Hayes wrestling with and shoving an officer. Hayes later paid the officer $150,000 to cover his injuries, according to a deposition given by the officer. About a month after Hayes pleaded no contest, Jamora filed a civil lawsuit against Hayes alleging physical and emotional damages from multiple incidents.
After TMZ posted the video Sunday, the NBA announced it was reopening its investigation.
McCoy and Stone told ESPN they would allow their client to speak with the NBA now, as they would have at the time of the league’s original inquiry: “If they’re investigating, we’re definitely going to encourage our client to cooperate.”
McCoy and Stone said they had not heard from the NBA since the league announced it was reopening its investigation.
McCoy told ESPN he was disheartened that it took the video for the league to take another look, “knowing that I’ve been in this case since 2021 and how serious the allegations were and the actions of Mr. Hayes at the time.”
Mark Baute, a lawyer representing Hayes, defended his client while accusing Jamora’s team of leaking the video.
“We understand the plaintiff wants to try the case through TMZ or other media outlets,” Baute said. “The plaintiff admitted to everyone on site that night that she had no injuries and was not punched or hit by anyone. We intend to fully cooperate with the NBA’s desire to reopen the investigation now that the plaintiff is sending material to TMZ.”
McCoy told ESPN on Friday that he and his client have “had no contact with TMZ.” Stone said, “I did not send anything to TMZ.”
Asked this week when the NBA first saw the video and what’s new in it that prompted the league to reopen its investigation, Bass offered a statement: “As previously stated, the video has prompted us to reopen our investigation of this matter. We are also aware of and have been monitoring the pending civil litigation. We will not be providing details on our investigative process.”
After the Lakers signed Hayes last year, general manager Rob Pelinka addressed the 2021 incident in an interview with The Athletic.
“I think the most important thing is we take those things very seriously and do a full vetting process,” Pelinka told The Athletic. “Jaxson has been very sincere [with] his apologies around handling that and has moved beyond it to where he’s had a year or two in the NBA playing after it. It was something that we felt like he owned, took responsibility for it, and is going to be a better person on the other side of it.”
McCoy told ESPN he was surprised when he read that.
“As far as I know, [Hayes] hasn’t apologized,” McCoy said. “I don’t know what he looked at or heard that made him say that. I took it to mean [Hayes] apologized to the police officer.”
In the civil case, McCoy and Stone sought to depose Pelinka, but lawyers for Hayes fought to quash a deposition of the Lakers’ GM. One of Hayes’ attorneys, Artyom Baghdishyan, wrote, “… it is undisputed that Mr. Pelinka did not interview, speak with, or question Mr. Hayes concerning the July 2021 incident, and thus lacks personal knowledge relevant to this case.”
Baghdishyan’s statement followed a declaration from Pelinka in which he wrote: “I do not know anything about the underlying allegations in that dispute and have not spoken to Mr. Hayes about the civil litigation or any of the underlying allegations.”
He added that any vetting of Hayes was done by an outside contractor, “which is our normal protocol” for an off-season move.
McCoy previously squared off against Baute in a higher-profile NBA case. McCoy represented a woman who accused NBA star Derrick Rose, represented by Baute, and two of his friends of rape in 2013. The men were found not liable, prompting Baute to say at the time, “The system worked.”