Killian Hayes’ agent says Cavs are ‘not interested’ in a guard, but draft is a ways away

Killian Hayes is one of the top guard prospects in the 2020 NBA Draft, but according to his agent, the Cleveland Cavaliers won’t be considering him, or other guards.

In the 2020 NBA Draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers are tied for having the best odds at landing the first overall pick at 14.0 percent, per Tankathon. Going into the season’s novel coronavirus-induced hiatus, the Cavs had the league’s second-worst record, and with Cleveland not being participants in Orlando for the season resumption, they’ll have secured their spot.

They’ll be tied with the league-worst Golden State Warriors and the Minnesota Timberwolves, of whom had the third-worst record. From Cleveland’s perspective, they’ll have a guaranteed top six pick in the upcoming October 16 draft.

In terms of their “top tier” of prospects, per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, that’s likely still LaMelo Ball of the Illawarra of the NBL, Georgia’s Anthony Edwards and James Wiseman. Wiseman previously played briefly at Memphis, then withdrew from school to focus on the draft after an ineligibility ruling would’ve cut well into his lone collegiate season.

I’d expect Auburn’s Isaac Okoro, who can legitimately switch defensively 1-4 as KJG’s Billy Beebe emphasized recently, to be strongly considered by Cleveland, too. Both he and Deni Avdija of the I’BSL’s Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv could be logical selections for the Cavs, and Fedor touched on them as well.

I’m more of an Okoro or Patrick Williams wing target guy over Avdija, though, as I see them as being more versatile defensively.

In terms of bigs, I’ll pass on Wiseman, who is not nearly as switchable as USC’s Onyeka Okongwu, who is a more polished interior post player, too. Okongwu, who could be a key piece in closing lineups for Cleveland, had 16.2 points, 2.7 blocks and 1.2 steals per game in a near-full season.

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Swinging back, in terms of another guard prospect potentially for the Cavs to target, though, one would imagine that’d be Killian Hayes of Ratiopharm Ulm of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL).

Hayes can play either the lead or off guard, as KJG’s Zane Harris alluded to, which could mesh with Darius Garland or Collin Sexton and play in a variety of lineups.

Granted, Harris did note how that could play into Garland being moved to a bench role at some point, along with KJG’s Amadou Sow in that realm, but we’d have to see there.

Garland did show encouraging playmaking feel, with 5.1 assists in his last 26 games active, we were seeing plenty of flashes of his shot-making.

I still believe Garland next season should be ready to roll, and I think he’ll be more aggressive in the scoring sense in 2020-21.

Nonetheless, will the Cavs assuredly not go with a guard in the 2020 NBA Draft?

I can’t say that, and while I’d probably rather them go with a big with the expiring Tristan Thompson seemingly having a high possibility of playing elsewhere, or a wing, Cleveland could select a guard once again.

Considering that, it’s hard to read much into Hayes’ agent’s comments about how the Cleveland Cavaliers are “not interested” in a guard.

On a French podcast, Podcast Envergure, Hayes’ agent, Yann Balikouzou, noted that Hayes interviewed with a number of teams, that most notably included the New York Knicks thus far. Balikouzou then hit on how Hayes will interview with the Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves.

Albeit what jumped out from Balikouzou’s interview was how Hayes will interview with the Cavs.

Balikouzou said how he’d been in touch with the Cavaliers, and said how, via English subtitles in the podcast, that “they’re not interested in a guard,” or at least that “the chances they’d draft a guard are really thin.”

While I’m not dismissing these comments by Hayes’ agent at all, the 2020 NBA Draft is slated to be in mid-October. The Cavs telling Balikouzou that they don’t plan on going with a guard at this point could just be a smoke screen.

The draft is a ways away, and with Fedor consistently reporting how Ball and Edwards, who are natural 1’s and 2’s, are seemingly in the Cavs’ top tier of prospects, these comments from Hayes’ agent are ones I’m somewhat skeptical of.

I’m again not completely brushing them off, but we have a ton of time before the 2020 NBA Draft, and Hayes himself as a 6-foot-5 guard could be a guard target of the all-around realm among that group in this class.

Hayes himself had 11.6 points on 48.2 percent shooting, to go with 5.4 assists and 1.5 steals in 24.8 minutes per game combining all play with Ratiopharm Ulm in 2019-20, per Real GM. He himself could be a quality two-way target if the Cavs go that route with his playmaking, driving ability and defensive upside.

Plus, of course, Ball and Edwards will likely be key targets for Cleveland, one would assume, based on consistent reports of that.

Now players such as Okoro, Okongwu or Williams are ones that I’d personally rather the Cavs go with, at least over Edwards, from the defensive side of things. Either way, though, the draft is a ways away.

It’s hard to read much into Hayes’ agent noting how Cleveland would seemingly almost certainly not select a guard on a recent pod.