A new video has the NBA reopening its investigation into the Lakers’ Hayes

The NBA is reopening an investigation into a 2021 incident involving Los Angeles Lakers center Jaxson Hayes after TMZ posted a video of the altercation between him and his then-girlfriend on Saturday.

“Based on the media report and video released this morning, we are reopening our investigation,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement to ESPN.

TMZ released 5½ minutes of security camera footage from the 2021 incident, showing Hayes – then a member of the New Orleans Pelicans – arguing with Sofia Jamora, his then-girlfriend. The video shows Hayes appearing to pull Jamora out of a door as she can be heard saying, “Stop. Let me go.” Hayes can be heard replying, “What the hell is wrong with you?”

The Ring.com footage has a timestamp of July 28, 2021, starting at 1:35 a.m

Hayes and Jamora are then shown leaving the house and continuing their argument in the driveway. “I won’t let you hit me anymore,” Jamora says in the video. “What the hell do I look like, like a punching bag?”

Not long after that comment, the video shows Hayes walking away from Jamora and then turning his head back to spit in her direction.

Los Angeles police responded to the scene in Woodland Hills, California, after a domestic violence call and Hayes was arrested. In June 2022, he was sentenced to three years probation, 450 hours of community service and one year of weekly domestic violence classes.

The NBA did not discipline Hayes after the initial investigation into the arrest.

“There has already been a comprehensive investigation in which we have been cooperating with the league, and if that investigation reopens, we will continue to do so,” a spokesman for Hayes told ESPN on Saturday.

Hayes was also ordered to pay restitution at the time, according to Rob Wilcox, spokesman for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.

Police body camera video showed Hayes struggling with officers and being hit twice with an electronic stun gun after they sent him out of the home while they tried to question a woman inside. Hayes told officers the woman was his girlfriend and that she had thrown “a few things” at him while they were arguing.

Hayes was treated at a hospital after the altercation. An officer thrown into a wall by Hayes was treated for an elbow injury.

Although more than three years have passed since the incident, a new legal dispute broke out this week.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday by attorneys representing Jamora and obtained by ESPN alleges that Robert T. Tamate, the officer with whom Hayes clashed, “had previously met with Hayes’ attorneys and from Hayes was financially compensated for unknown reasons.”

“We understand that the NBA has a policy of non-tolerance toward domestic violence, and therefore the victim welcomes any further investigation into Hayes’ actions and will cooperate with that investigation,” a spokesperson for Jamora told ESPN.

Hayes signed a two-year, $4.6 million contract with the Lakers in the summer of 2023.

“I think the most important thing is that we take these things very seriously and do a full review process,” Rob Pelinka, the Lakers’ vice president of basketball operations and general manager, told reporters when asked about Hayes’ signing at the time. “Jaxson was very sincere in apologizing for how he handled it and beyond that, where he played a year or two in the NBA afterward, he will be a better person on the other side.

A Lakers spokesman contacted Saturday night told ESPN: “We are cooperating with the league.”

Hayes, 24, averaged 5.0 points and 4.2 rebounds in 15.7 minutes per game for the Lakers in their 4-2 start to the season.

Baxter Holmes of ESPN and information from the Associated Press contributed to this report.