Nigel Hayes is another typical example of the fact that you shouldn’t break off your professional basketball career by working in the NBA without a coach. We’ve seen players like Justin Holiday work his way up from an undeveloped player in the 2011 NBA Draft to an NBA championship titleholder in 2015, and Nigel Hayes, we dare say, seems to be right on track to stage one of the most incredible basketball stories ever told.
Like Justin Holiday, Nigel Hayes never says never, although he has been offered several waivers and only short-term contracts. Over the course of his career, many basketball lovers have taken an interest in Nigel’s life and career, and the question “Who is Nigel Hayes?” is increasingly heard on the lips. In this article, we try to answer this question in 6 detailed facts you should know about the baller.
Who Is Nigel Hayes?
Nigel Hayes was born on December 16, 1994, in Westerville, Ohio. Like most professional basketball players, Hayes began playing basketball at a young age by training with a group of boys in his neighborhood. He attended Whitmer High School in Toledo, Ohio, where he played as a power forward for the varsity team. Hayes ended his career and was ranked as a 3-star athlete by rivals like Rivals, 247Sports. However, he was rated 4 stars by the Scouts and ESPN.
6 Facts To Know About The NBA Player
1. His college basketball spell
Hayes, a three-star recruit at Whitmer High School, has received offers from the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Wisconsin Badgers. He preferred the latter to the Buckeyes in his native Ohio.
Nigel Hayes, a 6 foot 8-inch power forward, has had numerous successes in the NCAA. These included consecutive appearances in the last four games, the Big Ten All-Freshman Team (2014), the Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year (2014), the 2× Third Team All-Big Ten (2015, 2017), and the First Team All-Big Ten (2016).
He played a total of 150 games and achieved an average PPG score of 12.4. Hayes graduated in Business Finance and Investment Banking.
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2. He frequently made the news mostly for off-the-court reasons
Nigel Hayes was very popular for his extrajudicial escapades during his time as an NCAA star. From challenging stenographers with long words like “antidisestablishmentarianism” to crushing a stenographer in the middle of a press conference, the baller likes to attract attention.
On the latter occasion, Hayes and two of his teammates were holding a press conference when he suddenly fell so much in love with one of the stenographers, Debra Bollman, that he whispered, “Oh my goodness, she’s beautiful. It became an embarrassing situation when Hayes thought that the small crowd didn’t hear him, he had obviously forgotten that his mike was still on.
Nigel Hayes also made the headlines because weddings hit the headlines in summer 2015.
3. Nigel Hayes speaks against racism and unfairness
Apart from the Ancients, Nigel Hayes also used his outspoken nature for good causes. He became famous for speaking out against racial injustice, often drawing on his reports in social media, where he has a mammoth following that supports the Black Lives Matter movement. Once he protested against the low compensation of NCAA athletes by showing up at ESPN’s College GameDay and holding up a sign saying “Black Lives Matter”: “Broken college athletes, anything helps.
4. Nigel Hayes is a mama’s boy
During his college years Hayes often spoke affectionately of his mother, Talaya Davis once called her the “best mother” and another time the queen of the universe.
He rarely speaks of his biological father, as his mother was the only parent he had for most of his childhood.
Hayes’s mother and biological father divorced in 2000 when he was just 6 years old. Since then, Hayes has become estranged from his biological father, as neither has made any effort to reconnect.
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Nevertheless, Hayes has not remained without a father figure in his life. Two years after his father left his mother, Talaya remarried a certain Albert Davis Sr. in 2002 and has been like a father to him ever since. In his profile in the UW database, Albert is listed as his father. Hayes and his stepfather have become close friends over the years and call each other “wingmen”. Nigel praises Albert for the success he has achieved in his life.
5. At least 4 NBA teams have waived him
Nigel Hayes still has to make it big professionally, but giving up is not part of his plans. He joined the 2017 NBA Summer League Program of the New York Knicks after he was not called up in the 2017 NBA Draft. He was retired in October 2017.
Nigel spent most of what would have been his rookie season with the Westchester Knicks in the NBA G League. He spent the first half of 2018 rocking NBA teams such as the Toronto Raptors, the Sacramento Kings, and the Los Angeles Lakers. On August 29, 2018, Hayes headed to Europe to join Turkish Basketbol Süper Ligi’s Galatasaray S.K. for a year.
6. His salary
Per Spotrac Nigel earned only 55,296 dollars as salary in the 2017-2019 season. The power forward will earn even more with the European side.
