On Thursday evening, courtesy of a proposed trade with the Atlanta Hawks, the New Orleans Pelicans selected the 6’11 center with the 8th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, making Hayes Texas’ third first-round selection in as many years, as he joins Mohamed Bamba (6th in 2018) and Jarrett Allen (22nd in 2017).
Quite unlike his predecessors, though, Hayes required what can be described as nothing short of a meteoric rise to his latest status as a lottery talent. He wasn’t a five-star McDonald’s All-American in high school, as Bamba, Allen, and even Myles Turner were, and he certainly wasn’t expected to spend just one season in Austin after arriving ranked outside of the top-100 in his class.