Gordon Hayward was 27 years old when he joined the Boston Celtics in 2017, fresh off the first All-Star appearance of his career. He fit in between Kyrie Irving and Al Horford on a team that had fielded Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart over the past four years. They were loaded.
Just five minutes into his Boston tenure, Hayward broke his left tibia and dislocated his ankle. Seven years later, as his former team prepares to lift the championship, he has retired after fourteen seasons, and it’s impossible to process his NBA career without thinking about how that horrific injury shaped it formed.
“I expected in my head that things were going to be a lot different when I decided to move and play in Boston,” Hayward told Yahoo Sports via Zoom on Friday. “I was relatively healthy for my first seven years in the NBA – until that bad injury, and then it seemed like every year after that it was one thing after another.”
Hayward returned to the Celtics for two more seasons, including a trip to the 2020 Eastern Conference finals, again marred by a sprain of his other ankle. He needed a change and found one in Charlotte, where he averaged an efficient 16-5-4 but struggled with injuries to both feet, his hamstrings and his left calf.
“It’s unreal how your body can compensate for this,” Hayward said, “(but) your strength has to go somewhere.”
In February, Hayward was traded from Charlotte to Oklahoma City, where he thought he would have another chance to contribute to a contender, but found the Thunder had limited playoff minutes for him.
“I was proud to be back on the field,” said Hayward, now 34 years old. “I felt like I was back to the player I was. I played some of my best games in my career in Charlotte. I’m at peace with my career and where everything was taking me. Unfortunately, the team aspect didn’t work out that way.” Good.” the way I wanted it, but yeah: it’s hard to think about my career without thinking about Boston and the injury and all that.”
Meanwhile, he watched his former teammates on the Celtics win a championship without him.
“Obviously, I’m human. It would have been cool if I could have done it when I was there,” Hayward said. “Certainly, the expectations were to do that. But I still have great relationships with the people who are still there. I’m very happy for Brad [Stevens]to Joe Mazzulla and obviously to the guys I played with when I was there – Al and Jayson and JB. They are now ready to hopefully do it again this year.”
According to his agent, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports and Entertainment, a slew of teams turned to Hayward this summer in hopes he could be a missing piece for a title contender. But Hayward decided that was it for his hoops career, though he hopes to stay connected to the sport. He has four children, ages 4 to 9, and wanted to spend more time with his family.
“He was ready to move on with his life and other challenges,” Bartelstein said. “He’s very happy, and that’s the most important thing. His decision to leave the NBA wasn’t because of a lack of interest.”
It’s funny how things turn out. In Boston, Hayward met Simon Hacker, the filmmaker who had to document the former All-Star’s difficult rehabilitation in a documentary series for The Players’ Tribune. So when it came time to figure out what to do with the rest of his life, he and Hacker founded Whiskey Creek Productions, whose first project, “Notice to Quit,” debuted in more than 400 theaters this weekend.
“It’s been a bridge and it’s great to get my thoughts out there [off basketball] and jump right in,” Hayward said.
“Many athletes have production companies, but they are pigeonholed into making sports films, and this film has nothing to do with sports,” he added. “It’s something that I think will resonate with a lot of people. We want to be storytellers, and I think this is a really cool story to tell.”
The independent film follows Michael Zegen (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) throughout a day in New York City as he tries to simultaneously save his career and mend a fractured relationship with his daughter – a theme that threatens work-life balance. appealed. Hayward, who reviewed the film’s dailies between games last season. One of his first business assignments after retirement was a trip to Lucasfilm’s Skywalker Studios for sound editing.
“It was a lot of fun,” Hayward said. “I hope to be able to be even more hands-on here in the future.”
Seven years after the world saw how an injury changed his career overnight, Gordon Hayward is satisfied.
