Pistons bust getting another shot after dominating with new team

Former Detroit Pistons guard Killian Hayes recently signed a 10-day contract to return to the NBA with the Sacramento Kings. 

This may be the first time a player has gone from the G-League to the NBA and actually downgraded teams, as the Kings are absolutely terrible and tanking hard, losers of 16 in a row and counting. 

The Pistons are hoping this keeps up and the Kings surpass their record-setting 28-game losing streak, and in the past, I would have made the joke that they have just brought on the right guy to do it, as Hayes has been the tank commander of some of the league’s worst teams. 

Hayes was probably the most polarizing player the Pistons have had, at least since I’ve been covering the team, as his staunchest supporters saw something in him that the rest of us did not. 

By any measure, Hayes was a bust, which is why I had him on my all-time Pistons’ draft bust starting five after being one of the worst shooters in NBA history. 

But like all players who put on the Pistons uniform, I will always cheer for Hayes, or at least have a mild curiosity about his career, so has he finally figured it out? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. 

Killian Hayes still has some of the same issues 

Hayes has dominated in the G-League this season, at least in the counting stats, as he has averaged 22.4 points, 8.5 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game, the types of numbers the Pistons hoped they would eventually get in Detroit. 

He’s shooting 47 percent from the floor, which seemed like an impossibility when I was watching him airball floaters in the lane as a Piston. Hayes never shot over 41 percent in Detroit and had three seasons where he finished in the 30’s, and that was field goal percentage. 

Even with his G-League improvement, Hayes is still shooting just 31 percent from long range (not much improved), but just like in the NBA, that hasn’t stopped him from launching them anyway, as he’s taking nearly seven per game. 

This gap between perception and reality was one of the defining elements of Hayes’ career, as I kept hearing about skills that never surfaced on the court.  And I don’t mean to rain on Hayes’ parade, but getting a call up to the Kings is barely a promotion at this point. 

All that said, I hope Killian figures it out, as he is miraculously still just 24 years old, so still has a chance to shake off the bust label, though it’s hard to imagine that happening with the Kings.