Rudy Gobert knows what a breakup looks like. In fact, he says he can feel it coming. You’re close with someone, but then things change. Often it’s how they react to the change that lets you know it’s coming.
And in Gordon Hayward’s case, he didn’t react to a potential departure from the Utah Jazz with anything that made his now-former teammate look like he was going to stay.
ESPN’s Zach Lowe wrote about the Jazz and how they are trying to move on from Hayward’s departure over the summer. In the piece, Gobert admits he could feel bad news coming with Hayward as his free agency loomed, mostly because he stopped texting.
“I could feel it,” Gobert told ESPN. “I was texting him a few days before [Hayward’s July 4th decision], and he wasn’t texting me back. That’s what I didn’t like. Just tell me. After five years, trust us, say what you are going to do. But I respect his choice.”
Gobert didn’t take Hayward’s departure necessarily well. He wasn’t happy with the way he left, and I’d guess a lack of communication has a lot to do with that. It also didn’t help that Isaiah Thomas trolled him after Hayward picked the Celtics.
All of this seems silly in hindsight, especially after Hayward’s serious injury. But the article makes it clear there are indeed hard feelings left behind in Utah.
