Hornets' Gordon Hayward out for Play-In Game with Foot Injury
Charlotte Hornets forward Gordon Hayward will miss the play-in tournament with "discomfort in his left foot," the team announced Sunday.
The veteran will be "placed in a cast to immobilize his foot and he will be re-evaluated in two weeks."
It's been a tough year for Hayward. The 32-year-old has appeared in just 49 games (48 starts) for the Hornets as an ankle injury cost him a big chunk of the season. He has played just once since Feb. 7, giving the Hornets 17 minutes in a 144-114 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on April 2.
Since joining the Hornets in the 2020-21 season, he's suffered nine separate injuries that have landed him on the injury report. He only played 44 of 72 games last season as well.
"Yeah it's frustrating," Hayward told reporters of his recent injury history in March. "It seems like it's happened frequently here in the last couple of years. Obviously, with last year, but starting when I moved to Boston. So, it's a long process getting back, no matter what the injury is anytime it's longer than a couple of games. It just feels longer. So it's tedious work. You are working extra than you normally would because you've got to do more just to get back. So it's frustrating. But like I said, it's part of the game."
Hayward has never quite been the same since he dislocated his left ankle and fractured his left tibia in the first game of the 2017-18 season for the Boston Celtics. The season prior, he averaged 21.9 points per game and had played fewer than 72 games in a season just once in his career.
But since that injury, Hayward has only reached the 72-game mark once and hasn't replicated his 2016-17 scoring output, though he was good for the Hornets when he played last year, averaging 19.6 points per game.
This year, Hayward has given the Hornets 15.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per contest.
If the Hornets survive the play-in tournament, Hayward will likely return in a bench role, similar to his appearance against the Sixers. It will be a different assignment for Hayward, who typically has started in his career, but the Hornets have developed a rapport with PJ Washington and Miles Bridges starting in the forward spots during his absence.
"Gordon, he's one of those unselfish players," Bridges told reporters this week before Hayward headed back to the injury report. "He's not a guy that is going to come back and be like, 'Hey, give me the ball.' So he's going to get into the rotation slowly. And everybody on the team loves Gordon. So we are going to be good trying to get him into the rotation, get him back in his rhythm."
Now, the Hornets just need to extend their season so Hayward can return at all.
