Summary
After being drafted 7th overall in 2020, Hayes has had a disappointing start to his career. The hope was that Hayes could become a high-level on-ball creator, but that just has not come to fruition for a number of reasons. First, he has really struggled to create space off-the-dribble. He has a good handle, but he isn't the quickest or most explosive athlete, and is very left-hand dominant. He struggles with pressure and commits a lot of turnovers. Without being able to create that separation, he doesn't gain advantages and isn't able to make plays for himself or others.

The overall scoring package has also been pretty rough for Hayes thus far. There were hopes he could become a three-level scorer, but he has struggled in all areas, posting a very poor 46% true shooting through four seasons. With his slight build and lack of elite athleticism, he struggles to finish at the rim, and needs to develop more craft on drives to either draws fouls or absorb contact rather than finish over defenders. He has struggled from midrange, and has only hit 28% of his 3-pointers as well. 

Defensively, Hayes has good size at 6'5" with a 6'8" wingspan. He has been disruptive on defense, posting high block and steal rates for his position, according to Cleaning the Glass. However, he needs to become an elite defender, not just decent, to stick around in the NBA, unless his offense really improves. Getting stronger, fighting through screens harder, and just developing that team defense IQ are ways that he can take that next step defensively. 

Hayes has skill and good feel for the game, and sometimes it just takes a while for young guards to find how to take advantage of NBA defenses. Hayes is still only 22 years old, so he has time to improve. However, he needs to start taking real strides, otherwise NBA teams will give up on him. 

Cap Considerations
Hayes was waived by the Pistons in February, and has yet to sign with another NBA team.

Other teams will have multiple ways to sign him as even teams without cap space could use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. It's also likely that he would only have offers for the minimum, and may not even get fully-guaranteed offers.