A few days after acquiring Ziaire Williams, a No 10 pick, in a trade and signing Keon Johnson, a No. 21 pick to a partially guaranteed deal, the Brooklyn Nets have signed Killian Hayes, a No. 7 pick, to what appears to be a make-good deal Thursday.
Shams Charania was first with the news…
Former No. 7 pick Killian Hayes has agreed to a one-year deal with the Brooklyn Nets, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Hayes will have a chance to compete for a roster spot with Nets. pic.twitter.com/69N6rxGRKx
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 25, 2024
All three players are 22 years old. Hayes was drafted in the 2020 class, Williams and Johnson in 2021.
Stefan Bondy of the Post confirmed the deal is for one year and is non-guaranteed, making it basically risk-free…
Filling in on some Nets today:
Killian Hayes is signing with the Nets on a one-year, non-guaranteed deal, a source says.
The Athletic first reported the agreement.
— Stefan Bondy (@SbondyNBA) July 25, 2024
The Nets have 15 players with standard deals but two of them, Johnson and Jalen Wilson (who isn’t going anywhere) have partially guaranteed deals. In addition, the Nets are reportedly shopping both Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith. Moreover, the Nets, like any NBA team, can bring up to 20 players into training camp. Teams must get down to 15 players (and three two-ways) by the day before the 2024-25 season opens, likely October 22.
Brooklyn’s interest in the 6’5” French point guard was telegraphed earlier in the month when Erik Slater of Clutch Points reported that the Nets were working him out…
The Nets are attending a workout for Killian Hayes today in Vegas, according to a source.
Hayes has averaged 8.1 points and 5.2 assists over four NBA seasons. The Pistons waived the 22-year-old midway through 2023-24.
— Erik Slater (@erikslater_) July 15, 2024
Hayes (whose nickname is “Purple,”) was waived by Detroit last February in a roster management move, four years after taking him at No. 7 in the 2020 Draft. There were no issues other than he had disappointed in his three and a half seasons after being drafted ahead of Tyrese Haliburton and Tyrese Maxey, among others.
In 210 games with the Pistons, his shooting splits were 38/28/78. By some measures, he was the worst shooter in the NBA. But he’s 6’5”, plays good D and has good court vision. His assist to turnover ratio was a very solid 2.7-to-1.
This is what teams confident in their development infrastructure can do: take a chance on a player who was a five-star high school recruit or a one-and-one college player or, in Hayes case, a European rising star.
Hayes was ranked as high as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft when he was still a teenager, but his shooting became an issue in Detroit.
The Nets traded Mamadi Diakite, a 6’9” power forward with a partially guaranteed deal, for Williams, a 6’9” wing, and a 2030 second rounder last Friday and signed Johnson, a 6’5” combo guard, to a two-year, partially guaranteed ($250,000) contract on Saturday.
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