Last summer, Gordon Hayward’s decision to sign with the Boston Celtics was one of the biggest stories of the offseason. That is, of course, before it was overshadowed by the Kyrie Irving saga in Cleveland, which coincidentally resulted in the two of them ending up as teammates in Boston.
But as with Irving, Hayward’s departure from Utah was not without controversy of its own. On July 4, someone prematurely leaked news of Hayward’s intention to sign with the Celtics, causing his agent to publicly deny those reports and sparking media outlets everywhere to backtrack on their erroneous reports.
Later that day, the Players Tribune would publish his official announcement, but the whole thing left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth, especially some of Hayward’s Jazz teammates. Rudy Gobert has previously voiced his displeasure with how Hayward handled this situation, and he doubled down on that criticism in a recent interview with FOX 13 Salt Lake City.
“We all know Gordon is a good player. We all know it’s a business, and sometimes you have to make tough decisions,” Gobert said. “For my part, it was only the fact that he didn’t really communicate with me. I was trying to reach out to him before, just to have some information. No matter what, I was going to respect his choice. He kind of ignored me. That’s the part I didn’t really like. I was kind of considering him as a brother. We played four years together, went through a lot. And I thought I was important enough to know. Looks like I wasn’t, but we’ve moved on, and I wish him the best.”
Hayward, of course, has missed the entire season after a gruesome leg injury on opening night, while the Gobert and the Jazz are currently riding a six-game win streak as they make a late-season push to land a playoff spot out West.
We’ve seen countless times before how player movement can strain relationships, but time is usually able to heal all wounds. Perhaps Gobert and Hayward will one day be able to bury hatchet and get back on good terms.
