Detroit Pistons: Killian Hayes could benefit from competitive chaos

The Detroit Pistons will enter next season with some big questions hanging over their roster.

One of the biggest is what happens with Killian Hayes now that the team has added two more guards (Monte Morris and Marcus Sasser) and will be getting Cade Cunningham back from injury.

The Pistons don’t have to make any decisions right away, but there are some important dates looming for Hayes, who will likely enter the season on an expiring contract.

Detroit could certainly try to trade Killian Hayes, and there have been rumblings that they are trying, but they’d almost just have to dump him at this point, as no team is going to give up anything of value for one of the league’s most inefficient offensive players, even if he was the #7 pick and still only 22-years-old.

So that really only leaves one option.

Detroit Pistons: It’s time for Killian Hayes to compete or move on

Killian Hayes has had a very fortunate early part of his career in some ways, as he was drafted onto a bad team and never had to compete for minutes.

He was always going up against guys like Cory Joseph and Saben Lee, and when you factor in injuries, he’s pretty much gotten minutes by default and never really had to earn them.

That is all over this offseason, as the Pistons added veteran Monte Morris, who is definitely going to be in the rotation, are getting Cunningham back, and have a promising rookie guard in Sasser who just dropped a 40-spot in Summer League.

There will be no minutes given to Hayes this time around, especially considering new head coach Monty Williams is not beholden to him in any way, including as a developmental project.

This competitive chaos will either make Hayes into a better player, force him to focus, play harder and not coast (which he has many times in his career), or he’ll be on another team by the trade deadline, it’s as simple as that.

The Detroit Pistons have little to gain by trading Killian Hayes now, so they may as well see if finally having to compete for a spot in the rotation is enough to push him to the next level. If it doesn’t happen, they’ll just trade him for peanuts anyway, so there’s little to lose at this point.

There’s still a spot in this rotation for Hayes, but he is going to have to earn it this time and there will be real stakes for him if he doesn’t.