Wednesday morning, Wisconsin junior forward Nigel Hayes declared for the NBA Draft, as first reported by Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski. SST was able to confirm this report soon after.
Hayes will not hire an agent, as expected. He will be “testing the waters” with the NBA’s new rule allowing players to go through the pre-draft draft process and have the ability to withdraw before the draft takes place (May 25).
As of now, Hayes does not appear on almost all mock drafts and is not expected to be invited to the NBA Combine May 11-15. Still, individual workouts could go a long way, so landing one of the 60-70 spots at the combine or proving his worth to a team could still happen.
Europe or another league overseas is always a possibility, but based on conversations with his family, I don’t see that happening. This is just Hayes taking a look at his chances right now, but his family, especially his mom, wants him to get his degree. Obviously, he also would love to get one too.
Will Hayes return for his senior year despite this development? I would say there’s a 99% chance he’s back wearing #10 in Madison.