The Dunedin guard has made a strong start to his third season in the Swiss Basketball League.
Hayman, who played for this year’s champion Otago Nuggets, has averaged 11.3 points per game, to go with 3.8 assists and 3.5 rebounds six games into the season.
They are performances that have even put him on the radar of the Switzerland national team coaches.
That has not come without its challenges, though.
After leaving New Zealand in early August, Hayman began training with his Nyon team almost immediately.
A two-month preseason was followed by a season-opening game with a crowd.
The next day one of his teammates tested positive for Covid-19, which
left the whole team to quarantine for 14 days.
Three days of practice followed, then another teammate tested positive and a second 14-day quarantine was enforced.
That meant being completely housebound — no exercise or shopping allowed.
In that time the country’s daily cases had exploded from 200-300 to 5000-20,000.
It had been a "wild time", although Hayman was adapting.
The country was in a similar state to New Zealand’s Alert Level 2, although professional basketball was allowed to continue with no crowds.
He was grateful for that and, while his team was battling in its second year in the top division, he was excelling on court.
Notably last weekend he put up 16 points and eight assists.
A more developmental approach, combined with an American import going home due to Covid-19 concerns, had given him more responsibility.
"Both of those factors launched me into a bigger role that I was building towards last season," Hayman said.
"From that point of view it’s been great.
"I’m playing almost 30 minutes a match and taking a significant role in terms of scoring and play-making.
"It’s always the case the more you play, the more you learn and the more experience you gain."
He was moving between point guard and shooting guard, although felt he had transitioned more to the latter.
While in many places point guard has developed into a scoring position, it remained more traditional in Europe.
"You’re really not required to shoot if you’re a point guard; your sole focus is to facilitate.
"That took a bit of adjusting for me playing point guard, because I like to still try to be aggressive, attack in transition and look for opportunities.
"In that sense I’ve enjoyed playing off the ball more. It’s providing more opportunities to score.
"I’ve always found when any player is looking to score, that’s when you have the chance to make plays, because you’re going to draw the defence and open up others."
He has three semesters left in his masters degree in economics, which he was studying part-time around basketball.
After that he was unsure where he would go and his basketball future might depend on career options.
