Summary
A lot of people were surprised when Hayward declined his $34.2 million player option with Boston for '20-'21, but he and his agent were able to get a 4-year, $120 million contract from Charlotte in the summer of 2020. While Hayward has played well when healthy, he hasn't even lived up to that contract when he has been on the court. Then once you consider that he has missed about 33 games per season since joining the Hornets, it overall was not a successful signing for Charlotte, and he was traded to OKC at the 2024 trade deadline, where he really struggled to contribute and fell out of rotation at the end of the playoffs.

Hayward has good size for a wing at 6'8". He's a good athlete, and uses that athleticism to finish well at the rim. He has lost a step athletically in recent years, and he doesn't get nearly as many dunks as he used to, but he actually has hit 69% at the rim the past two seasons. However, that was offset by below-average 3-point shooting of 36%. Those are both outliers that could regress and progress, respectively, back closer to his career numbers going forward.

Hayward can create for himself off-the-dribble, but he's not someone you want having the ball in his hands a ton. He's better suited playing off ball and attacking hard closeouts when the defense is already in rotation. He has good play-making skills as his assist rate has always been high for a wing. He has taken more midrange jumpers the past two seasons, and it has hurt his overall efficiency, and the 54% true shooting that he posted in '23-'24 was be his lowest in a decade.

Defensively, Hayward was an above-average defender in his prime. He worked pretty hard on that end to stay in front of defenders on ball, and was disruptive with steals and blocks. As he has aged and suffered some injuries, he has lost a step on the defensive end. He's not quite as quick laterally anymore, and doesn't get as many steals and blocks. He still has good size for a wing and can contest shots. He's strong enough to not get overpowered by big wings. 

Hayward will be 34 years old as a free agent in 2024. With his age and injury history, I would be surprised if he got a large long-term contract. However, he has shown recently that he can still be an effective wing that can play different roles and next to different types of players, which is valuable in today's NBA. It was concerning though how little of an impact he made for the Thunder, as he was just invisible whenever he got minutes, and that might really hurt his market in free agency this summer.
 
Cap Considerations
Hayward will be an unrestricted free agent with a $47.3 million cap hold and full Bird Rights, meaning the Thunder will have no restrictions on re-signing him. Since his cap hold exceeds his likely starting salary, his cap hold is not really relevant, as it will either be removed once he signs with another team or just replaced with his starting salary if he re-signs.

Depending on how close the Thunder are to the luxury tax after free agency, if Hayward is brought back by the Thunder on a multi-year contract they could benefit from frontloading his contract, as it could give them additional flexibility in the future.

For other teams, if Hayward demands a starting salary of more than the full $12.9 million Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception, only teams with cap space will be able to sign him, unless a sign-and-trade is worked out. It's possible however that Hayward could be had for the full MLE or less.