Celtics News: Gordon Hayward 'A Long, Long, Long Way Away,' Says Brad Stevens

Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens confirmed that star Gordon Hayward won't be returning to the court anytime soon.

"He's still a long, long, long way away," Stevens said Tuesday, per Matthew VanTryon of the Indianapolis Star. "St. Vincent Sports Performance is where he'll be and who he's working with. We worked with them at Butler. He worked with some of their trainers when he was doing the predraft stuff. There's a lot of familiarity there. He knows them well. One of the doctors he's been consulting within Indy also works with them. There's a lot of familiarity there. It seems like a logical next step for them."

St. Vincent Sports Performance is located in Indianapolis.

Stevens' comments jibed general manager Danny Ainge's recent remarks, as he told Abby Chin of NBC Sports Boston that Hayward wouldn't be with the team during the early portion of the postseason as he rehabs his injury.

Ainge added that he believes Hayward's recovery is coming along nicely.

Hayward, 28, hasn't played a game for the Celtics after breaking his left ankle in gruesome fashion during the team's season-opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Celtics have maintained that Hayward won't return this season, though Hayward was recently seen running in a video posted by The Players' Tribune, perhaps inspiring hope among some fans that Hayward could make a postseason return:

Injuries have been the theme of Boston's season. Superstar Kyrie Irving is also out for the year, while Marcus Smart and Daniel Theis are out of action at the moment as well. Despite those losses, however, the Celtics still hold a 2-0 advantage in their first-round Eastern Conference playoffs series against the Milwaukee Bucks.

"Our mentality has always been: It doesn't matter who's playing, we're going to go out there and we're going to play hard as hell and play together," backup point guard Shane Larkin told Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com. "And whatever happens, happens."

What has continued to happen for Boston is winning, making the prospect of next year's team with a healthy Hayward and Irving truly scary for the rest of the Eastern Conference.