After a productive stint in the Cleveland Charge of the G League, former Detroit Piston Killian Hayes is back in the NBA. The 24-year-old point guard signed a ten-day contract with the Sacramento Kings on Monday and wasted no time before making his season debut. Taking advantage of Sacramento's depth issues stemming from season-ending injuries to Zach LaVine, De'Andre Hunter, and Domantas Sabonis, Hayes made his way into the rotation. Even though the Kings were able to end their disastrous 16-game losing streak in Hayes' first game, the former Piston failed to make his case for an NBA role.
In 11 minutes off the bench, Hayes was held to zero points on 0/4 shooting, with all his attempts coming from behind the arc. He had four assists and no turnovers, and the Kings were +6 in his minutes against the Grizzlies, but he also had five personal fouls. His foul trouble throughout the game may have kept his minutes down, but he didn't do much to earn more playing time from head coach Doug Christie, anyway.
Killian Hayes Has a Chance to Turn NBA Career Around With the Sacramento Kings
Hayes will get more opportunities to prove himself. He has four more games before his ten-day contract is up. The Kings can then sign him to another ten-day deal. Teams are not allowed to sign players to more than two ten-day contracts in a season, so Hayes would need to find another team or a long-term deal with Sacramento.
None of this is surprising for Pistons fans. Hayes has become the face of the struggles of Pistons basketball during his 3.5 seasons in Detroit. In the games the former seventh-overall pick played for the Pistons, the team had a disastrous 50-160 record. The Pistons failed to win more than 23 games in any of those seasons, leading to Detroit eventually waiving him at the 2024 trade deadline.
Since then, Hayes has been bouncing between the G League and the NBA, spending significant time with the Brooklyn Nets and their G League affiliate last season. Even though he has been putting up box score stats during his G League tenure, averaging 21.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals in his 37 regular-season games there over two seasons, teams have been hesitant to take a chance on Hayes. Whether his stint with the Kings changes this remains to be seen.
Players like Tyrese Haliburton, Deni Avdija, and Devin Vassell were selected in the next five picks after Hayes, making Detroit's miss that much more painful. The Pistons are in an excellent spot as the Eastern Conference favorite right now, but one has to wonder whether the years leading up to this season could have been a little less painful if Hayes didn't turn out to be a major bust.