Pistons to trade their former lottery pick?

The Detroit Pistons may be going for some consolidation to begin the Monty Williams era.

Veteran NBA writer Marc Stein wrote this week on Substack that the Pistons are determined to clear out their logjam in the backcourt by trading guard Killian Hayes. Stein adds that the Pistons recently had trade talks on Hayes with the Dallas Mavericks, but those did not ultimately gain much traction.

Hayes, 21, was Detroit’s No. 7 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. He has decent size and talent for a young point guard (10.3 points and 6.2 assists per game last season). But Hayes is very inefficient and hasn’t yet proven that he can be a winning piece. In fact, the highlight of Hayes’ NBA career thus far might be the time that he KO’d Moritz Wagner.

The Pistons will be getting star point guard Cade Cunningham back from injury next season, and they also went out and got veteran Monte Morris to serve as Cunningham’s backup. That won’t leave much room for Hayes, who may become the latest former first-round pick to be sent packing by Detroit.