An offensive black hole and a brutal shooting slump defined Killian Hayes's first eight games of the season. The nightmare began on 02/23 vs MEM, where he went scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting and posted a disastrous -19.5 Impact score. Things somehow looked bleaker on 02/25 vs HOU as he forced up a 1-for-9 brickfest, dragging his Impact down to -10.4 due to abysmal shot selection and countless empty possessions. Even when he managed to distribute the ball, his inability to hit basic jumpers made him a liability that crippled second-unit spacing. He finally broke through the negativity on 03/10 vs IND with a +1.2 Impact score. Though he only scored 8 points on 2-for-7 shooting in that contest, his season-high 23 minutes yielded enough rebounding and playmaking value to finally tilt the scales in a positive direction. Still, this brutal stretch of basketball confirms that Hayes remains a severe offensive project who cannot survive on the floor without a reliable jumper.

Killian Hayes spent this eight-game stretch caught in a brutal identity crisis, bouncing erratically between spot starts and absolute bench exile. The lowest point of his offensive struggles arrived on 03/19 vs PHI. He forced up terrible looks to finish 3-for-12 from the floor, resulting in a dismal -12.2 impact score. Even when his shot actually fell, the underlying metrics rejected his performance. During a spot start on 03/15 vs UTA, Hayes poured in 16 points and hit four threes, yet still recorded a -2.1 impact because his empty scoring lacked the necessary game control to actually drive winning basketball. By the time he logged a ghost-like two minutes on 03/26 vs ORL, yielding a -10.4 impact, his role had completely evaporated. He simply bled value every time he touched the hardwood.