Entering the 2021-2022 season, the Detroit Piston faithful were hopeful for a strong sophomore campaign for second-year guard Killian Hayes. Since being selected with the number 7 overall selection, the 20 year-old has been subjected to his fair share of ups and downs through 91 NBA games. Although snakebitten by injury, for the most part, Hayes has struggled to live up to the “hype” of his draft position.
After a rough 33 outings to start the season, not even Hayes’ greatest believers could have felt confident about the prospect of him contributing to winning basketball. It appeared Hayes had made little offensive improvement and, even worse, his confidence seemed to be shot.