Things change quickly in the NBA. One day, you’re the shiny new draft pick everyone loves, and the next, you are fighting for a job, on the outside looking in.
This cycle has happened recently with three former Detroit Pistons who went from “core” to guys whose NBA careers are hanging on by a thread.
Isaiah Livers was the 3-and-D wing who had neither
Isaiah Livers had some promising moments early in his career as a 3-and-D prospect, but he has only played 130 games total in his five seasons in the league.
He’s never appeared in more games than the 52 he played in his second season with Detroit and only played 36 games last season for the Suns.
For a guy who came into the league thought of as a shooter, Livers has been bad in that department, hitting just 30 and 28 percent in his last two “healthy” seasons. Livers has never really been healthy, and considering he was already 23 as a rookie, it’s hard to see that changing.
Livers got more of a chance than I expected after he left Detroit, but it’s been more of the same, and it’s hard to see another team biting.
Killian Hayes is the king of the G-League
Killian Hayes is very good in the G-League, but not so much in the NBA. He put up monster numbers in the G-League last season but immediately reverted back to the Hayes we all know as soon as he got called up by the Kings.
His 30 percent shooting from the field and 27 percent from 3-point range aren’t going to be enough to keep him in the NBA, even though he is miraculously only 25 years old.
Someone may give Hayes another chance, but at this stage it seems pointless, much like one of his shots. You have to be VERY good at other things to stay in the NBA as a guard who can’t shoot, and Hayes isn’t.
Does Jaden Ivey even want to play basketball?
Ivey is clearly the most surprising name on this list, as he went from part of the Pistons’ core just last season to out of the league in one of the more curious flameouts we’ve seen in recent years.
Ivey may not have fully recovered from the physical part of his devastating leg injury, as he never looked right last season, but it was the off-the-court stuff that will keep him out of the league, that is, if he even wants to be in it.
For a guy who was a number five pick just a few years ago, I’ve not heard Ivey’s name mentioned a single time this offseason in relation to anyone. Not one team has shown any interest in him as a free agent, which is wild, as he’d be a good rehab project for a bad team hoping to strike gold.
But his weird behavior may have turned teams away, and it’s not even clear if he has interest in a return even if some team were to give him a chance.
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