Tiffany Hayes is retiring from the WNBA, she announced on a new episode of the “Counted Me Out” podcast. But the 2017 All-Star still plans to play in international leagues.
“You could still catch me overseas,” Hayes said. “I just figured I’d focus on one thing and then summer time I could turn up my business. I could turn up life with my family and just live life like that.”
The 2023 WNBA season ran from May through September, while most international leagues operate on the opposite seasonal schedule, running from the fall through the spring. Hayes is playing for Shanghai in the Chinese Women’s Basketball Association this offseason.
“I don’t want to play two seasons anymore. I’m really at a crossroads right now. Which one do I play?” Hayes told The Athletic while playing in Turkey last offseason.
After playing 10 seasons with the Atlanta Dream, the 34-year-old guard signed a one-year deal with the Connecticut Sun in 2023. She averaged 12.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists.
“It’s a lot of things,” Hayes said about her decision to step away from the WNBA. “I really feel like I’m older now. I got a lot of stuff that I really always want to get into but I’m so busy ’cause I’m playing year-round. Plus, my body, playing 11 seasons straight with no breaks, every year, two seasons in a year every time, that’s a lot.”
Hayes won two NCAA championships with UConn in 2009 and 2010, then became the No. 14 pick in the 2012 WNBA Draft. Hayes made her only All-Star appearance in 2017, and she was named to the All-WNBA First Team in 2018.
“You can’t guard me!”
Sun guard Tiffany Hayes made this emphatic statement to Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu during Tuesday’s Game 2 of the WNBA semifinals. But Ionescu got the last laugh, leading New York to an 84-77 win and evening the series with Connecticut.
Hayes did score a game-high 30 points at New York’s Barclays Center. In the fourth quarter, as she made another move toward the basket, she was fouled by Ionescu in the paint, which triggered her trash talk.
“Yeah, they can’t guard her,” Sun forward Alyssa Thomas said after the game. “They can’t guard her, whether they tried to trap her, whether they tried to guard her one-on-one — hence why they went to a zone. They have no answer for her.”
🗣 "You can't guard me!"
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 27, 2023
28 points and counting for Tiffany Hayes in Game 2 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Bd1gcAH8kU
For Ionescu, though, the victory speaks for itself. She led the Liberty with 21 points, and every New York starter finished in double digits.
“I’m not really focused on what other people say and how they try and rattle us,” she said. “For me, it’s all about winning. But it’s fun when you go against competitors that are into the game and want to talk. At the end of the day, it’s all about winning.”
The series continues with Game 3 at 7:30 p.m. ET Friday at Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun Arena.
Tiffany Hayes is out for at least a month, the Atlanta Dream announced Monday.
The guard has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 MCL tear in her right knee, an MRI confirmed over the weekend. The expected recovery time is approximately four to six weeks.
Through 11 games, Hayes is averaging a career-high 17.6 points, 3.3 assists and 1.6 steals. As of Monday, she is the 12th-ranked scorer in the league and leads the Dream in scoring.
Atlanta is currently 10th in the league with a record of 5-7, sitting just outside the playoff picture. Struggling to find consistency, the team will now rely on Courtney Williams (16.9 PPG) to carry the load.