Pistons: 3 goals for Killian Hayes in his return to action

Killian Hayes is finally back for the Detroit Pistons after missing 41 games with a torn labrum. He suffered this injury seven games into his rookie season in a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on January 4th, and it came at a difficult time for the 19-year-old.

His career debut came barely more than a month after being selected seventh overall in the 2020 NBA draft, in the most unique season we’ve ever seen. While most rookies have a summer league, full training camp and preseason at their disposal before ever touching the court as an NBA player, this year things were different.

3 goals for Killian Hayes in his return for the Detroit Pistons

This season was compressed, as were training camp and the preseason. Obviously, summer league wasn’t a thing. So instead of having time to acclimate, Hayes was thrown to the metaphorical wolves.

There’s nothing wrong with giving him the opportunity of an accelerated learning curve, and the season’s compression certainly doesn’t excuse his struggles, but it goes to show that things had the potential to go sideways if he got off to a rough start.

He did indeed struggle to start the season. In his first seven games, he averaged 4.6 points while shooting 27.7 percent from the floor and 25.0 percent from the 3-point line, and that injury short-circuited things for him before he could build any positive momentum.

Now that he’s back, let’s take a look at 3 things the Pistons want to see out of him before the end of the season.