Lazar Hayward returned to the Timberwolves on Monday a changed man, in more ways than one or two.
He has lost 15 pounds and grown his hair out since the Wolves traded him away a year ago, then brought him back Monday when they signed him as a free agent to fill Josh Howard's role and roster spot.
Oh, and he now seeks to see the spirits of dead people, too.
Out of the NBA and out of basketball since Houston waived him in October, the Wolves' former first-round draft pick has worked recently with two Los Angeles mediums who he says have guided him on a spiritual quest that dates to his childhood.
"I've always just had a lot of questions spiritually because I always kind of seen stuff when I was a kid and I used to tell friends and they'd look at me and say, 'Lazar, you might need some help,' " he said laughing during a surreal post- practice conversation with reporters. "So they used to make fun of me. I just had a lot of questions because I've always just wondered."
Hayward has a friend whom he claims has talked through such a medium to a brother who has been dead for six years. That relationship helped convince him to seek his own answers.
"I've actually been able to see a spirit," Hayward said. "I can't talk to them yet, but I have seen them."
He has spent the past two months pursuing a path of what he calls "meditation and spiritual healing and living in an enlightened state" while also waiting for a road back to the NBA.
