Nigel Hayes Signs Partially Guaranteed Deal With New York Knicks

Former Wisconsin Badger basketball player Nigel Hayes has signed a partially guaranteed deal with the New York Knicks. The Knicks filled out its 15-man roster by signing Hayes.

Daily Knicks reports Nigel Hayes signed a partially guaranteed deal with the New York Knicks.  Hayes adds his name to the 15-man roster for their upcoming training camp.

Nigel Hayes tested the NBA waters after the 2015-2016 season.  But instead, he chose to return to Wisconsin for his senior year.  Hayes was Wisconsin’s second-leading scorer. He went undrafted in this year’s draft, but was just recently signed to a partial deal with the Knicks.

Hayes played in six Summer League games for the Knicks.   He started two and averaged 4.3 ppg on 41.3 percent shooting.

Maxwell Ogden from dailyknicks.com first reported the signing.  Adrian Wojnarowski from ESPN tweeted out the Knicks move.   Wisconsin Badgers basketball Twitter quickly celebrated.

With this deal, Hayes can either land a main roster spot or go play in the D-League for the Westchester Knicks.  Hayes’ training camp play will determine the destination.

The 6-8 forward from Toledo, Ohio came on the scene as a freshman.  He played in all 38 games during the first of two Final Four runs. He was great as a role player, averaging 17 minutes while scoring 7.7 ppg and 2.8 boards per game.

In his sophomore campaign, Hayes quickly moved in to be the team’s third leading scorer.  He played in 40 games, recording 12.4 ppg, 6.2 boards.  Hayes also developed his three-point shot. That seemed to give him great confidence going into his junior season without Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker both left.

As the Badgers’ primary threat during his junior season, Hayes averaged a decent 15.7 ppg.  But he only shot 36 percent from the field and 29 percent from behind-the-arc.

It seems as though Hayes got too caught up in being the alpha.  He struggled in his final two seasons. Hayes played best while being a contributor to future NBA players, Kaminsky and Dekker.

Hayes got a little too confident in his outside shot.  That really brought down his percentage.  This ultimately led to him trying to “fix” his shot which messed things up more.

Hayes played some tremendous games last year as a facilitator.  This meant working the low post, kicking it out, and knocking down ppen three-pointers. He certainly can’t force the shot, which it seemed like he did at times.  Instead, he needs to stretch the defense himself.

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He probably won’t see a spot on the roster right away.  But this is a step in the right direction.  Many Badgers see playing time overseas initially.

Hayes will most likely fit in as a small forward that has the ability to work the post. If he trusts his moves down low and not force three-pointers, but wait for the open shot, Hayes could be seeing some playing time in the Association.

The Knicks don’t appear to have a whole lot of depth at the three for the future so Hayes in the NBA could be a thing. He will need to be patient, maybe add some strength and then we’ll see him coming off the bench. He plays best when he doesn’t have to be the main contributor and that is possible in the NBA with the Knicks.