Hayes was born September 20, 1989, in Winter Haven, a city in Central Florida, to Dorothy and Renard Hayes.[2]
Hayes played basketball for Winter Haven High School in Winter Haven, Florida. The team compiled a 117–9 record during her career, and won the state championship in 2004 and 2007.[2] She was the leading scorer on her team, scoring an average of 18.3 points per game.[3]
Hayes helped lead the AAU team Essence to the 2007 National Championship.[2]
Hayes was invited to the 2007 Youth Development Festival, a USA Basketball sponsored event for elite sophomores and juniors in high school, biennially at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. The 2007 event featured three teams from the US and a team representing Brazil. Hayes was leading scorer of the White USA team, which won five of its games to clinch the gold medal.[4] Hoopgulrz.com named Hayes the outstanding player of the Festival.[5]
Hayes participated in the 2008 Nike SPARQ Training 'My Better' Championship event. She finished the preliminary round as one of the top twenty-two out of the 3,000 high school athletes competing. The top finishers were flown to Nike World Headquarters for the finals.[6] Hayes finished second among all females competing.[7][8]
College career
Hayes played for the University of ConnecticutHuskies. She knew about the program when she was a little girl, and had interest in UConn since childhood. UConn became interested in Hayes in 2006, when an assistant coach, Tonya Cardoza, saw her playing AAU ball. Despite heavy recruitment by many other schools, UConn made an offer when Hayes was a junior, and Hayes committed to attend Connecticut.[9]
She asked to wear number 3, the number most recently worn by UConn legend Diana Taurasi. Hayes was not a starter at the beginning of the season, but after teammate Caroline Doty was injured, she stepped into the starting line-up. Her career high scoring game was against California in the regional semifinal of the NCAA Championship. Connecticut won every game of the season by double digits, but found itself in the unusual position of being eight points behind in the California game.[10] Hayes scored 28 points to help lead the team to a victory.[11]
On the fifth of February 2011, the Connecticut Huskies beat DePaul 89–66. This game was the 100th win in Hayes' college career, and occurred in her 101st game, making her the fastest player in NCAA basketball history to reach 100 wins.[14] Hayes scored 35 points against Syracuse on January 26, setting a career high, and followed that up with 33 points against South Florida, two days later. The 68 combined points in back-to-back games is the highest point total in consecutive game by any Connecticut player in history.[15]
Professional career
WNBA
Hayes was selected by the Atlanta Dream as the second pick in the second round, the 14th overall pick of the 2012 WNBA draft.[16] In her rookie season, Hayes played 34 games with 17 starts while averaging 8.6 PPG as a reserve on the Dream's roster. She was named to the WNBA All-Rookie team.[17]
In her second season, Hayes played 23 games with 4 starts and averaged 11.3 PPG. That season, the Dream advanced all the way to the 2013 WNBA Finals, but were swept by the Minnesota Lynx.
In the 2014 season, Hayes officially became the starting shooting guard for the Dream and averaged 12.9 PPG.
In 2016, Hayes re-signed with the Dream to a multi-year deal once her rookie contract expired.[18] During the 2016 season, Hayes averaged 15 PPG. In a loss to the Los Angeles Sparks, Hayes scored a career-high 32 points. Her stellar performance continued into the playoffs, where she scored a playoff career-high 30 points in the second round elimination game against the Chicago Sky in a losing effort.
In 2017, with the team's leading scorer Angel McCoughtry deciding to rest during the season, Hayes took on more scoring responsibility in her absence and continued to improve offensively. She was voted into the 2017 WNBA All-Star Game, making it her very first all-star game appearance. By the end of the season, Hayes put up a career-high scoring average of 16.3 PPG, but the Dream finished with a 12–22 record, missing out on the playoffs.
In 2018, with the return of McCoughtry, the Dream was back in the mix for a playoff spot and eventually emerged as a title contender. Hayes was voted into the 2018 WNBA All-Star Game, making it her second all-star game appearance. She finished the season with a new career high in scoring. The Dream finished 23–11 with the number 2 seed in the league, receiving a double-bye to the semi-finals. McCoughtry was sidelined with a knee injury and the Dream were eliminated by the Washington Mystics in five games.
On August 10, 2019, Hayes scored a new-career high 34 points in an 87–82 loss to the Indiana Fever.[19] With McCoughtry sidelined for the whole season with a knee injury, the Dream finished with a league worst 8–26 record.
On December 13, 2023, Hayes announced her retirement from the WNBA.[20]
On May 31, 2024, it was announced that the Las Vegas Aces had signed Hayes out of retirement.[21] On October 4, 2024, the WNBA announced Hayes is the Sixth Player of the Year, the award for the top player coming off the bench in the league's season.[22]
Overseas
In the 2012-13 off-season, Hayes played in Israel for Hapoel Rishon LeZion. In the 2013-14 off-season, Hayes played in Turkey for Beşiktaş JK for the first portion of the off-season and spent the second portion of the off-season playing in Brazil for America de Recife. In the 2015-16 off-season, Hayes played in Turkey once again for Yakin Dogu. As of August 2016, Hayes signed with Mersin BSB S.K. for the 2016-17 off-season.[23] In 2017, Hayes signed with Maccabi Ashdod for the 2017-18 offseason.[24] In 2019, Hayes signed with Perfumerías Avenida of the Spanish League for the 2019-20 off-season and renewed for 2020–2021.
