Will Brooklyn Nets call up Killian Hayes? It’s becoming a legitimate question.
The Long Island Nets returned to the court on Saturday afternoon following two off-days Montreal, Canada but couldn’t come away with a win. Still, the big positive and big story for the Nets wasn’t the loss. It wasn’t the crowd of 6,096 at Place Bell in suburban Laval either. It was Killian Hayes continuing his audition for a return to the NBA, a year after the lottery pick was unceremoniously dumped by the Detroit Pistons.
After missing three games to the flu, the 6’5” 23-year-old put up 25 points, 11 assists and hit five threes, his fifth straight game of 20 or more points. And with the Brooklyn Nets opening up at least one roster spot, his timing was excellent.
Long Island went up against one of the worst teams in the G-League, and a team that had only won one of their last 10. In the end, Long Island would drop their sixth game in a row, losing to Delaware, 133-127, leaving the junior Nets at 6-10 for the regular season and 8-24 overall.
Long Island remained without their three two-way players — Tyrese Martin, Tosan Evbuomwan, and Reece Beekman — as they continued with the big club. Long Island was also without the newly acquired Oshae Brissett who is still dealing with hamstring soreness.
In addition to Hayes, head coach Mfon Udofia had the services of 6’10” Drew Timme who had also missed time with the flue. Hayes made his return as a starter, whereas Timmemade his return off the bench. Despite coming in off the bench, Timme ended up playing most of the game anyways.
Hayes returned in a big way, scoring all 11 of Long Island’s first points within the four minutes of play. Hayes finished the game with a double-double, as he led the team in points with 25, and assists with 11. Hayes shot 10-of-17 overall and 5-of-9 from deep. He also managed to secure four rebounds and two steals.
Over his last five games, the French-American point guard has been playing at a high level, particularly in the shooting department, a big if not the biggest reason he was dumped by Detroit.
Killian Hayes continues his LI Nets audition. With 25/11/3 today, Hayes over last 5 is averaging 24.4 ppg, 10.2 apg, 4.2 rpg and 3.4 spg with shooting splits of 58/52/88.. One concern: went to line 8 times in 5 games. Still, he had games of 28 pts, 18 assts and 5 threes (twice). https://t.co/9vP3thzaBQ
— NetsDaily (@NetsDaily) February 8, 2025
Brooklyn, of course, has an opening after Ben Simmons was bought out. Tyrese Martin who’s been on a two-way all season but hasn’t played a minute for Long Island is seen as the most likely candidate to get a standard contract. There’s also speculation that the Nets will waive DeAnthony Melton and/or Bojan Bogdanovic. It’ll probably be a couple of days before the roster reshuffling is complete. (Hayes, with four years of NBA experience, is ineligible for a two-way.)
Timme also had a good game. He finished tied for third on the team in points with Trevon Scott, with 20. However, Timme didn’t return to form in rebounding the ball, as he was only able to grab in four. Timme’s rebounding ability is something that has helped Long Island a lot in the past, and is something they sorely missed. Timme also had three assists to his credit.
Mark Armstrong was second on the team in points, continuing his sold play, picking up 22 points. While, Tyson Etienne had 17 points, and Dariq Whitehead scored 10.
One of the glaring issues we saw today for Long Island came in the play of Kendall Brown. Brown has been one of the team’s “hidden gems” this season. This was just not his game. He finished with nine points, connecting on just four of his nine shots.
Jordan Minor, the 6’9” local tryout who started the game for Long Island finished the game with a giant goose egg in the points column. However, he was able to pick up four rebounds
Long Island shot the ball well for the most part, connecting on 46 out of their 83 shot attempts, including drilling 15 of 29 from deep. However, they had no answer for Delaware’s 6’3” Syracuse shooting guard Judah Mintz who finished with 45 points.
The first quarter opened fantastic for Long Island. They were firing on all cylinders as Hayes picked up the team’s first 11 points. Both teams headed into the second quarter with 37 points. Delaware was able to pull away a little bit from Long Island, taking a six-point lead into the half.
Long Island had its share of issues in the third. However, they were able to chip away at Delaware’s 10+ point lead to end the third just down by two. Delaware would build up their lead again as the Long Island Nets would try to battle back, to no avail, losing the game by just six points.
Next Up
The Nets head back to New York after their fourth game in Quebec as part of the “Les Nets” promotion aimed at creating a Nets fan base in French-speaking Canada. With two more games in March, Long Island has averaged better than 6,600 fans per game. The promotion is a joint venture with the Groupe CH, the parent company of the Montreal Canadiens.
Long Island, is set to return to their true home court at Nassau Coliseum to face the Windy City Bulls on Tuesday. The game tips off at 11:00 AM for its special Education Day, and can be watched on ESPN+ and the Gotham Sports Net.