Gordon Hayward Won't Return from Leg Injury This Season, Brad Stevens Says
Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens is doing his best to silence any speculation that Gordon Hayward will play this season.
"He's not playing this year," he said Saturday, via ESPN.com's Chris Forsberg. "I don't know what else to say."
Stevens' comments come after the Players' Tribune posted a video of Hayward in workout attire taking shots on a basketball court:
Hayward was injured five minutes into the Celtics' season opener when he fractured his tibia and dislocated his ankle against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He signed a four-year deal with the team in July after spending the first seven years of his career with the Utah Jazz.
In a Facebook post published on Nov. 1, Hayward wrote that the Celtics "know I will not be back on the court at all this season" as he rehabs from surgery.
Yahoo Sports' Chris Mannix reported that Hayward was "walking fine, but his ankle was still swollen and still purpleish" before the All-Star break.
Stevens noted Hayward is still "a super long way away from even being on 1-on-0 workout where he's cutting."
Without Hayward in the lineup, the Celtics own the second-best record in the Eastern Conference at 44-19.
