The Pistons are set to renounce their rights to guard Jaylen Hands, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), who reports that the team and player have agreed to part ways.
Hands, 22, was selected with the No. 56 pick in 2019 out of UCLA by the Clippers, who traded him to the Nets on draft night. A year later, during the 2020 offseason, Brooklyn traded Hands’ rights to the Pistons. Although Detroit has held his NBA rights since then, the 6’3″ guard has yet to sign an NBA contract.
Hands played for Brooklyn’s NBAGL affiliate, the Long Island Nets, during his first professional season in 2019/20, averaging 11.3 PPG, 3.5 APG, 2.9 RPG, and 1.0 SPG across 40 games (including 18 starts). He later signed a two-year deal with Serbian club KK FMP in January 2021.
Once Detroit formally renounces its rights to Hands, he’ll become an NBA free agent. That would allow the former five-star recruit to sign with any NBA team once his contract with FMP expires — or earlier, if that deal has an opt-out clause.
Luke Adams contributed to this report.
Oh look, a better shooter than Nico Mannion just sitting out there, strange I thought Mannion was a future NBA legend by the way GSW gave him 350+ minutes this year…
Detroit ain’t trying to catch these Hands
5 star recruit turned into pine rider in the D league. Maybe the 4 year college route might have been a wiser choice. Now, he’s what? A nobody without a degree or any realistic chance of making the NBA.