NBA Draft: Will the Kings will take Killian Hayes with No. 12 pick in draft?
In the final hours leading up to Wednesday’s NBA Draft, there was growing speculation the Kings would have an opportunity to select Killian Hayes, a highly rated guard from France who already has ties to the organization.
As The Sacramento Bee reported earlier this week, there is increasing talk around the league that Hayes could fall to the Kings at No. 12. On Wednesday, mock drafts from ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor, The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie and Tankathon.com all predicted the Kings would choose Hayes with their first-round pick.
Hayes, 19, is a 6-foot-5, 216-pound combo guard who played professionally in Germany last season in the Basketball Bundesliga, where he averaged 12.8 points and 6.2 assists while shooting 39% from 3-point range. Tankathon.com ranks Hayes as the second-best point guard in this year’s draft behind LaMelo Ball, who could be the No. 1 pick in the draft. O’Connor has gone so far as to list Hayes as the No. 1 player on his big board, ahead of Ball, Anthony Edwards, James Wiseman and every other draft hopeful around the world.
Joe Dumars connection
Hayes is represented by Independent Sports & Entertainment (ISE), where Kings Chief Strategy Officer Joe Dumars once worked as president of the management agency’s basketball division. Dumars introduced Hayes to former Detroit Pistons guard Will Bynum, who has been training Hayes since last summer, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Hayes said he had not yet spoken to the Kings during a Zoom session with reporters last week, but he offered his thoughts on their backcourt situation.
“I haven’t had any meetings or workout with the Kings, but I think they have a great young team with Buddy Hield and De’Aaron Fox,” Hayes said. “They have a great backcourt and I think they will do great things next season.”
Scouting report
Hayes would add talent and versatility to a Kings backcourt that features Fox, Hield and now Donte DiVincenzo, who was acquired from the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday in a trade for Bogdan Bogdanovic. Hayes is a dynamic playmaker and an expert facilitator in the pick-and-roll who could provide a nice complement to Fox as a secondary ball handler.
Hayes wouldn’t come without questions. The Ringer noted he is so left-hand dominant he “might as well tie his right hand behind his back,” describing him as a “limited athlete who lacks burst and bounce, which hinders his finishing ability, especially since he rarely uses his right hand.” Hayes has the size and length to become a versatile defender but “experiences lapses on defense, missing rotations and falling out of his on-ball stance.”
Vecenie offered this assessment: “His best skill is his passing ability. He whips passes around the court with his left hand off of a live dribble or a stand-still with ease. He sees the entire court at a very high level and is a monster out of ball-screens. He also flashes the ability to be a three-level scorer if the jumper keeps improving, although he is much more comfortable as a pull-up shooter than a catch-and-shoot player. The big concerns here are two-fold. First, he’s extremely left-hand dominant to the point that it’s actually a problem in his ability to make plays. Second, he’s not a super athlete. There is some concern that he won’t be able to get separation from NBA-level defenders despite his skill level and polish.”
Givony wrote: “Hayes has one of the wider draft ranges of any of the players in this tier of prospects, as he’s getting looks from as high as Chicago (No. 4) and Detroit (No. 7). The glut of guards might push him down the board to Sacramento, which could use a solidly sized combo guard who can play alongside De’Aaron Fox while taking over the backup point guard minutes.”
