December 15 is a big day on the NBA calendar as a slew of players who signed contracts with organizations this season are eligible to be traded.
One of those players this applies to for the Phoenix Suns is Nigel Hayes-Davis, the former EuroLeague Final Four MVP who has failed to catch on in The Valley.
It’s time for Hayes-Davis to leave Phoenix.
Therefore, it is time for the 30-year-old to leave the franchise, and there are several obvious reasons why this should happen as soon as possible.
Before we delve into what those are, we must also accept the reality that the Suns may not be able to get anything in return for a veteran on a minimum contract who will be a free agent next summer.
It is now more likely that he will finish his time in Phoenix before returning to Europe to hopefully revive his career. That remains the most likely conclusion here.
Here’s a minute from Nigel Hayes-Davis: pic.twitter.com/pFhXh9jjIE
— John Win, III (@DarthWin) December 7, 2025
But if the Suns can get even a second-round pick back for his services, they should do so without hesitation. Why? Head coach Jordan Ott has already revealed his playoff rotation, and Hayes-Davis is not part of it.
Even without Devin Booker (who has since returned) and Jalen Green unavailable due to injury, Hayes-Davis did not see his minutes increase.
Instead, Coach Ott prefers to give them to players he trusts more to execute his game plan on both ends of the court, such as Jordan Goodwin and Jamaree Bouyea.
It’s a shame that Hayes-Davis is caught between being a liability defensively and not making enough of the few shots he does make that he’s slipped through the cracks here.
But the biggest obstacle to the rotation, and the reason he will be traded if the Suns can find a suitor, is the emergence of Isaiah Livers.
It says a lot that if he wasn’t currently injured himself, he would play an even bigger role in the rotation. As an attacker, he is everything coach Ott wants, especially defensively.
When the Suns have the ball, he has no problem doing the dirty work and allowing Dillon Brooks and Grayson Allen, who have had to take on more responsibility in scoring the ball, to play a bigger role themselves.
It’s a shame that didn’t happen for Hayes-Davis in Phoenix, and it was worth the risk. But this team is better than anyone could have predicted, and they have a head coach who built this roster in a way that doesn’t play to Hayes-Davis’ strengths. Time to go.
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