Nigel Hayes-Davis is turning down big money to return to the NBA.
After graduating following the 2016-17 season, former Wisconsin Badgers star Nigel Hayes (now Nigel Hayes-Davis) signed as an undrafted free agent with the New York Knicks.
Despite playing with the G-League Westchester Knicks, Hayes-Davis appeared in nine NBA games between the Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors, and Sacramento Kings. Upon the conclusion of the 2017-18 NBA season, Hayes-Davis embarked on a professional basketball career in Europe.
Hayes-Davis made stops with various teams in Lithuania, Spain, and Turkey, but it was with Fenerbahce in Istanbul where Hayes-Davis was most successful in professional basketball.
The former All-Big Ten forward not only earned All-Second Team Turkish League honors in 2023 but also won back-to-back Turkish Cups in 2024 and 2025, earning MVP honors in both seasons. At the end of the 2024 season, NBA star Kevin Durant vouched for an NBA team to sign Hayes-Davis.
This previous season, Hayes-Davis became a 2025 EuroLeague Champion, Finals MVP, and earned an NBA contract offer from the Phoenix Suns earlier this month. As it turns out, Hayes-Davis turned down more money from Fenerbahce to return to the NBA.
According to Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews, Hayes-Davis had a three-year contract worth $9 million on the table from Fenerbahce.
However, the reigning EuroLeague Final Four MVP “has been actively exploring a return to the NBA for several years” and signed a one-year, fully guaranteed deal worth two million dollars with the Suns. In doing so, Hayes-David paid Fenerbahce one million dollars to get out of his current contract.
It’s been a winding road for Hayes-Davis to make it back to the NBA, but his hard work overseas finally paid off. Hayes-Davis will join a Phoenix Suns team looking to return to the playoffs after a one-year absence.
Under new head coach Jordan Ott, Hayes-Davis will compete for playing time with newly-acquired small forward Dillon Brooks and eight-year veteran Royce O’Neale.