Some good news for anyone who doesn’t believe Gordon Hayward’s season-ending injury will actually end his season: He’ll start traveling with the Boston Celtics very soon.
From the Boston Sports Journal’s Brian Robb:
Gordon Hayward could start traveling with team in early March according to Stevens.
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) January 24, 2018
This news does nothing to quell the optimism that abounded after Robyn Hayward, Gordon’s wife, posted an Instagram video of her husband shooting around:
It’s important to keep all this in perspective. Neither of these updates are official medical notes. The Celtics aren’t out here saying Hayward is months or weeks ahead of schedule.
Remember: He’s recovering from a dislocated left ankle and fractured tibia that he suffered barely minutes into opening night. He’s since been deemed out for the season, so he would need to beat his timeline to play again this year.
Is that impossible to believe? Not at all. Paul George did something similar at the end of 2014-15, when he played in six games for the Indiana Pacers despite initially being deemed out for the year. But Hayward’s situation is different, because Boston will have something to play for if and when he’s ready to return.
Even after dropping four straight games, including Tuesday night’s letdown against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Celtics own the Eastern Conference’s best record. With the Cleveland Cavaliers incurring something of a free fall, many have billed them as the de facto favorites to reach the NBA Finals.
Hayward, in theory, only strengthens that outlook. But this presupposes he won’t need ample time to re-acclimate himself to the speed of the game. And he will. He’ll have missed too much time not to. And the Celtics won’t have the flexibility in late March into mid-April to host his learning curve if they’re still battling for playoff seeding.
If they’ve wrapped up first place in the East, welcoming him back would be a lot easier. Even then, though, they’d still have to worry about him potentially holding them back when it matters most, in the postseason.
Are they willing to take the risk? We can’t be sure. The smart money says no, but the Celtics are tough to predict. They haven’t built their team with the expectation of winning a championship now. They’ve been more concerned with the big picture—with waiting out LeBron James. If Hayward is healthy enough to rock at any point this year, they may be willing to jeopardize their immediate chances for a better long-term outlook.
