The New Orleans Pelicans will tip off their NBA season in less than a week against the Toronto Raptors on Oct. 22, but rookie Jaxson Hayes also has another date marked in his calendar — that being Oct. 25 when Call of Duty Modern Warfare releases for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles, as well as PC.

The 7-foot rookie has been a longtime fan of the video game franchise and has partnered to promote the game he loves ahead of its awaited release:

“Me and Call of Duty have gone way back a long time, since I was a little kid,” said Hayes. “My mom never let me play it [growing up], so I had to go sneak out to my friend’s house and play it there. I’ve been playing this since almost the beginning of Call of Duty, since my older brother had it.”

Hayes, the eighth overall selection in this year's NBA Draft, put on a show in Summer League, showcasing some of the best dunks the summer had to offer, along with some defensive plays to make his mark in the league.

The 19-year-old Pelicans center was kind enough to chat with ClutchPoints to tell us about his partnership with the Call of Duty franchise and his approaching NBA regular season debut.

ClutchPoints: Call of Duty has been a First Person Shooter that’s been around for years, what about it makes it such a staple of the gaming community?

Jaxson Hayes: Just because I feel they’ve changed things…. Some people might not like it, but I think it helps.

CP: Do you have any particular games from the Call of Duty series that you’re fond of?

JH: My favorites ones are Modern Warfare 3 and 2, the first Black Ops. The most recent Black Ops [4] I like too.

CP: What is your play-style like? Are you more of a rushdown kind of a guy, a support sniper, a close-quarter combat specialist?

JH: I’d probably say my game is more of when you’re really close to somebody and I’m just spraying them, I’m that type of dude. My mid-range is not as good as I want it to be right now, but I still get kills with it. I get about 25 kills a game online on Team Deathmatch.

CP: You’re part of a young roster with only two players that are in their 30s. Have you found anyone on your team that is a video game or Call of Duty enthusiast?

JH: Two of my teammates that I really play with a lot are Jaylen Adams — me and him and Brandon Ingram, we all play Black Ops 4 Zombies when we’re on the plane or at the hotel.

CP: If you could get the bragging rights of a “Kill cam” moment against any of your teammates, who would you want to have those bragging rights against?

JH: A Kill Cam moment? Probably B.I. [Brandon Ingram] Probably Brandon, because he’s really good at Zombies, but he’s better than me at Team Deathmatch, so I’d probably want to kill him the most.

CP: When you look up Jaxson Hayes on Twitter, the first thing you see are dunks, what is an area of your game that you’d like to be known for beside those dunks?

JH: Besides the dunks? I’d probably say my athleticism, the way that can change the whole game. Just the way people [have to] change their shots because of me and then they have to adapt to me.

CP: You also had a chase down block with your elbow in Summer League, has that ever happened before in high school or college? What was it like?

JH: Nah, that elbow one was the first one. I've blocked really high shots before, but the elbow one was definitely amazing.

CP: What was that like in the moment, did you realize you had blocked it with your elbow?

JH: I really didn’t, I actually thought I missed it. I thought I just missed the block completely and then I looked back and saw I actually blocked it.

CP: Growing up in Ohio, you grew up idolizing LeBron James, but what NBA player would you say you’ve patterned your game after?

JH: I’d probably say players like JaVale McGee and Clint Capela. Just the way that they go to the glass and they box you out and block shots.

CP: Something else most people probably don’t know is that you grew from being 6-foot as a high school freshman to the height you are right now [7 feet]. How have you had to adapt your game throughout that time to become a Top-10 pick?

JH: My game definitely changed a lot. My freshman year I wasn’t playing center. I started playing center when I was a senior in high school, so that definitely changed a lot.

I just had to get stronger, that was one thing I had to work out a lot, just having to change my body the way I was growing and then probably shifting to be a little more physical.

CP: Were you surprised at all by Zion measuring at 6’6”? [Zion Williamson was listed as 6-foot-7 during his lone year at Duke, but was recently officially measured at 6-foot-6]

JH: Yeah, I really was, because whenever he sits next to me he doesn’t seem 6-6, he seems 6-8, so I was kind of shocked when I saw that.

That’s even more impressive just to see the stuff that he does.

CP: What is the experience of playing with him like?

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JH: It’s fun, definitely. There’s a lot of dunks when we’re playing together.

CP: So you move from Texas to New Orleans — besides finding a home, what were the first spots you visited? Any food places that have caught your eye?

JH: Yeah, there’s a bunch of really good places out here. I’m still waiting to make a trip to the Bayou to do one of those swamp tours. Just stuff like that, where we go out and eat a bunch of different food.

CP: Anything particular that caught your eye about the city that was different from what you’re used to?

JH: Just how much love people show you here. Like if I was just to walk down the street people would say like ‘what’s up?,’ ‘good luck,’ ‘welcome to the city,’ stuff like that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkecHH7cLBs

CP: Do you recall the first time you were recognized in New Orleans?

JH: Yeah, it was the first day I landed and I was walking from my hotel to the gas station down the street, actually. I wanted to go get some snacks and somebody right across the street said ‘what’s up?’

CP: Due to the Anthony Davis trade, you and your teammates have gotten to start out with a fresh slate, what is that like and what are the spirits after being undefeated in preseason (4-0)?

JH: It definitely felt really good being undefeated in the preseason. Our whole team is totally different, there’s only like four players from last year. That’s just crazy as it is.

CP: Was there anything particular you noticed from the transition at your pre-draft workouts, something that shocked you upon coming to the NBA?

JH: Just the workouts. The pre-draft workouts were really hard and we did a lot for it every day. We do a lot more every day, and once I got [to the Pelicans] obviously it’s been hard, but in a different way. Just the way that practices are, no longer in the gym by myself. Just working on shooting, ball-handling, getting defenses right and learning the offensive plays.