Killian Hayes (PG, DET) - Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 8

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 18% of leagues

ANALYSIS: Shouts out to the haters! Killian Hayes might not be Kylian Mbappe but one thing is real and it is that the breakout is finally happening for the French youngster. That has been aided by the absence of Cade Cunningham, but the good news is that the second-year guard of the Pistons is either 1) going to miss (much) more time while recovering from injury or 2) entirely forfeit the remainder of the season undergoing surgery.

Hayes has started all last 11 games played by Detroit getting all the way back to Nov. 12. He also logged 34 minutes in the match before that as Cade went down back then on Nov. 11 against the Knicks.

In his 11 games as a starter, Hayes is playing 30 MPG and getting better by the day. He's gone from scoring 9+ PPG in the first seven to 16+ in his last four alone (he's scored at least 11 points in each of those). Hayes has scored at least one 3-point shot in four consecutive games and a total 13 triples in his last eight games as a starter.

Not only has Hayes finally found his shooting stroke (44% from the field as a starter) but he's also improving his efficiency on a per-game basis having shot above 38% in all last four games and an even better 45%+ in his past three while hoisting no fewer than 11 shots in each of those matchups.

Since he became a starter, Hayes is also rebounding nicely for a point guard (3+ RPG) and dishing out dimes in bunches (6+ APG) while not really turning the ball over that much (1.7 TOPG). The steals are ridiculously tasty at  1.3+ SPG but we'll see how sustainable that is over the next few days and weeks.

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