The other day when I was researching the piece on Devin Booker being the only member of the 2025 NBA Draft class to still be on the same team that drafted him, I was checking the roster for the Suns. I figured that Booker was going to be one of the older members of the team and that he’d also have more years of experience.
For verification, he does have more years of NBA experience than the other members of the Suns roster, but he is not the eldest.
Dillon Brooks, who is eight months older than Booker,
has only been in the league for eight seasons. Grayson Allen has a year on Booker, but just seven season in the league. Royce O’Neale, three years Booker’s senior, also has eight NBA seasons under his belt.
And at age 30, Nigel Hayes-Davis will be entering his second NBA season.
This piqued my interest. How was a thirty-year-old able to make a return into the big league?
Hayes-Davis, originally from Westerville, Ohio, played collegiate ball for Wisconsin making first team All-Big Ten in his junior year. Entering his senior season, he was named Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year.
He went undrafted in 2017, but was invited to join the New York Knicks in Summer League before signing on for his rookie year. After being waived, he player in their G-League affiliate.
Three months later he signed a 10-day contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, playing in two games. Two months later he signed a 10-day contract with Toronto, playing in two games with the Raptors. After another two months, the Sacramento Kings signed Hayes-Davis for the remainder of the season. He played in five games before being waived during the summer.
Since 2018, Hayes-Davis has played overseas where he has amassed success. Lithuanian League Championships in 2020 and 2021, the Spanish Cup in 2022, Turkish Cup in 2024 and 2025 taking Finals MVP in the latter competition, EuroLeague Championship in 2025 where was the Finals top scorer.
With content success, he garnered attention from the NBA. Celtics head coach Joe Mazulla even made a trip to Istanbul to check him out. In the end, he signed a one-year deal with the Suns.
Just a reminder that the next big opportunity might be right around the corner.
Back in the summer of 2019, I made a trip to Utah to cover the Spurs at the Salt Lake City Summer League. Among the newly drafted trio of Luka Samanic, Keldon Johnson, and Quinndary Weatherspoon was twenty-eight-year-old Thomas Robinson. I recall Jabari Young walking up to him and Robinson asking why he wanted to talk to him. Young commented that he was interested in how Robinson had gotten the Spurts attention to earn this shot.
It will be interesting to see how Hayes-Davis embraces his opportunity.
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