Chuck Hayes was a Kentucky basketball mainstay. His son is now a rising college recruit.

cameron drummond

Wed, May 29, 2024, 10:32 a.m.·6 min read

Dependable and durable are two oft-cited adjectives to describe the basketball career of Chuck Hayes.

The bulky, 6-foot-6 forward was a stalwart for Kentucky from 2001 to 2005 and endeared himself to Big Blue Nation in the process.

A four-year player, Hayes tied a UK record by starting 110 straight contests from the end of his freshman season through the conclusion of his college career. This included Hayes starting every game of the 2004-05 season, for which he was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team All-SEC selection.

The Wildcats did a lot of winning with Hayes, too: During the four seasons Hayes was on the roster, Kentucky went 109-25 (81.3%) overall under the leadership of Tubby Smith. This stretch included the 2003 and 2005 SEC regular-season championships, the 2003 and 2004 SEC tournament titles, two No. 1 seeds (2003 and 2004) in the NCAA Tournament and two trips to the Elite Eight (2003 and 2005).

Plenty of time has passed between now and then. Despite not being selected in the 2005 NBA draft, Hayes spent more than a decade playing in the NBA before transitioning to coaching and front office roles. Last July, Hayes was named the director of basketball operations for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.

And nothing measures the passage of time like a child: Hayes is now watching his first kid blossom into a basketball talent before his own eyes.

Dorian Hayes — a 6-foot-4, 175-pound small forward who is ranked as a three-star prospect by 247Sports in the 2025 recruiting class — is beginning to attract interest from colleges.

The younger Hayes plays at Ridge Point High School just outside Houston (where Chuck Hayes started and ended his NBA career with the Rockets) and for Houston Hoops on the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) circuit.

It was in one of these settings — during the third session of the Nike EYBL held in mid-May just outside Indianapolis — where the Herald-Leader caught up with Hayes while he watched his son play.

“I’m really fine. I’m OK. I’m as calm as possible. And all I tell him to do is trust his work,” Chuck Hayes told the Herald-Leader about watching Dorian play. “Everything that he’s built up, from fifth grade all the way to now, everything that he’s gotten better at and built up his game toward, is for this moment. So trust the development that he’s had over the years.”

With all four EYBL regular-season sessions now complete, Dorian had 11 double-digit scoring games as Houston Hoops went 9-6 in regular-season play, just missing out on an automatic bid to the season-ending Peach Jam tournament later this summer.

“This is all natural. He was just around (basketball). He was in the gym with me. He was in the locker room with me. In the games. He was always around pros,” Chuck Hayes said of his son.

Prior to his junior season in high school, Dorian reported scholarship offers from the likes of Lamar, McNeese State, Sacramento State and Sam Houston State. Now, he’s using his shoe circuit opportunities in front of college coaches to boost his recruitment.

Following that EYBL session in Indiana — which was the only live recruiting period of the EYBL regular season — Dorian (a rising high school senior) added scholarship offers from George Mason, Murray State and Texas-San Antonio.

“He’s a better shooter than I’ve ever been. Thank God he doesn’t have my free throws,” Chuck Hayes said when asked to describe his son’s style of play. “He has IQ and he has shooting talent. He knows the game. Defensively, offensively, he understands spacing … He was born into this. His game is high IQ, great shooting touch … A coach will love him on the court.”

Chuck Hayes credits a who’s who of his former NBA teammates — such as ex-Cat DeMarcus Cousins, DeMar DeRozan, Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming — with helping foster Dorian’s love for basketball.

“They always embraced him, so he just kind of grew into this,” Hayes said.

In Hayes’ mind, what’s the biggest lesson his son took from growing up around top NBA talent?

“Learn how to work,” Hayes said. “He’s seen the guys work. Even now with my job with the Warriors, he’s come out to visit and he’s seeing Steph (Curry) and Klay (Thompson) work, before the game and after the game. Seeing their intensity. So, he has a visualization of what it looks like and what he has to do. That’s what he tries to emulate every time.”

After a standout prep career in California, the elder Hayes came to Kentucky after picking the Wildcats over Kansas, among other schools, in his recruitment.

But, he said there isn’t much that’s transferable from his own recruitment to that of Dorian’s.

“I thought I knew what I was doing, but this is a whole different ballgame from what it was 24 years ago,” Hayes said. “I do have some foundation of how we’re going to go about (Dorian’s recruitment), but I have a great support system that supports me, that supports (Dorian) and is helping me.”

Chuck Hayes, left, was congratulated by Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart upon his induction into the UK Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016.

Chuck Hayes says Mark Pope is the ‘man for the job’ at Kentucky

For his college career with the Wildcats, Hayes averaged 9.0 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. He shot 50.3% from the field and ultimately logged more than 3,500 minutes on the floor.

Advanced analytics have been kind to Hayes’ Kentucky legacy: According to Sports Reference, Hayes ranks fourth in SEC history (since the 1995-96 season) in defensive win shares, which is an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player due to their defense.

Since the 1999-2000 season, Sports Reference has Hayes ranked 10th in the SEC in total offensive rebounds (344).

Hayes, who was inducted into the UK Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016, is still revered in Lexington for his hard-nosed, tenacious style of play.

These qualities were on display right until the end of his UK career.

Hayes’ final game at Kentucky — a double-overtime defeat to Michigan State in the 2005 Elite Eight that featured a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from UK’s Patrick Sparks at the end of regulation — marked the final time Kentucky made it past the first weekend of March Madness with Smith as the Cats’ coach.

Hayes scored 16 points (on 8-for-11 shooting), grabbed five rebounds and dished out three assists in that classic NCAA Tournament contest.

While Hayes’ final game at Kentucky came nearly two decades ago, he remains deeply invested in the on-court developments in Lexington.

That was true for Hayes during the John Calipari era of UK basketball, and it’s certainly true for Hayes with new head coach Mark Pope.

“I will tell you this, Mark Pope is the man for the job,” Hayes said. “He’s deserving. There’s no better credential, there’s no better résumé, there’s no better background than his, for him to take the seat at Kentucky.”