In his third season, at a preseason game at Wake Forest, Hayes scored 18 points in the first half of a preseason matchup with the San Antonio Spurs on Tobacco Road. After that game, his right knee, which forced him to miss a third of the 2004–05 season after he fractured his kneecap, swelled through the night. Hayes, named the starting off guard by Wizards coach Eddie Jordan, missed the remainder of the preseason but did not let the injury discourage him. Later, on December 16, 2005, he had to leave a Laker game. The knee had fractured again and again his season was over. On February 14, 2006, he had the long-delayed surgery with the pins.