Daye attended Woodbridge High School in Irvine, California where he played for coach John Halagan. As a junior in 2005–06, he averaged 16 points, 9 rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game as he named to the All-CIF Southern Sectional Division II A first team and was an All-Orange County third team pick. In November 2006, Daye signed a National Letter of Intent to play college basketball for Gonzaga. As a senior in 2006–07, Daye averaged 30.9 points, 12.4 rebounds and 5.4 blocks per game as he was named to the Orange County Register first team after leading Orange County in scoring. He was also named Sea View LeaguePlayer of the Year, CIF-Southern Section Division I Player of the Year and calhisports.com first-team All-State. Considered a five-star recruit by Rivals.com, Daye was listed as the No. 7 small forward and the No. 25 player in the nation in 2007.
College career
In his freshman season at Gonzaga, Daye earned WCC All-Freshman Team and All-WCC Honorable Mention honors after averaging 10.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.6 steals in 33 games. In his sophomore season, Daye earned All-WCC Honorable Mention honors for the second straight year, in addition to earning NABC Division I All-District 9 second team honors. In 34 games, he averaged 12.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 2.1 blocks per game. In April 2009, Daye declared for the NBA draft, forgoing his final two years of college eligibility.
Daye was drafted by the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association with the 15th overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft. On August 7, 2009, he signed his rookie scale contract with the Pistons. On September 23, 2011, Daye signed a two-month contract with Khimki of the Russian Professional Basketball League. In December 2011, he returned to the Pistons following the conclusion of the NBA lockout. On January 30, 2013, Daye and Tayshaun Prince were traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for José Calderón as part of a three-way deal that landed Rudy Gay in Toronto. On August 1, 2013, Daye signed with the Toronto Raptors. On February 20, 2014, he was traded to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Nando de Colo. On March 15, 2014, he was assigned to the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League. He was recalled the next day. The Spurs went on to win the 2014 NBA championship with a 4–1 defeat of the Miami Heat in NBA Finals; Daye's contributions were limited to a single rebound in six minutes playing time throughout the entire playoff run. On January 10, 2015, Daye scored a season-high 22 points, in addition to grabbing 10 rebounds, to help the Spurs defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 108–93. A week later, he was waived by the Spurs. On February 16, 2015, he was acquired by the Erie BayHawks of the NBA Development League. On March 15, 2015, he signed a 10-day contract with the Atlanta Hawks. He then signed a second 10-day contract with the Hawks on March 25, and a multi-year contract on April 4. On July 9, 2015, he was waived by the Hawks. On September 28, 2015, Daye signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, he was waived on October 23 after appearing in six preseason games. On November 27, he moved to the Italian Serie A, signing with Consultinvest Pesaro. In 21 games for the club in 2015–16, he averaged 21.2 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.1 blocks and was selected to the Italian Serie A All-Star Game.
On August 9, 2017, Daye signed with the Israeli club Hapoel Jerusalem for the 2017–18 season. However, on January 3, 2018, Daye parted ways with Jerusalem after appearing in 19 games and averaged 10.9 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
Reyer Venezia
On January 29, 2018, Daye returned to Italy for a second stint, signing with Umana Reyer Venezia for the rest of the season. On May 2, Daye won the FIBA Europe Cup championship with Reyer. He signed a two-year extension with the team on July 6, 2018. In the 2018–19 season, Daye won his first Lega Basket Serie A championship with Reyer. After winning the final series 4–3 over Dinamo Sassari, Daye was named LBA Finals MVP. On February 16, 2020, Daye went to win his first Italian Cup with Reyer Venezia. He was named MVP of the competition.
In the summers of 2016, and 2017, Daye played in The Basketball Tournament on ESPN for Team Challenge ALS. He competed for the $2 million prize in 2017, and for Team Challenge ALS, he averaged 13.3 points per game, also shooting 77 percent from the free-throw line. Daye helped take the sixth-seeded Team Challenge ALS to the Championship Game of the tournament, where they lost in a close game to Overseas Elite 86–83.
NBA career statistics
Regular season
Playoffs
Personal life
Daye's father, Darren, played five seasons in the NBA.
