Boston Celtics Small Forward Gordon Hayward will Miss Around 6 Weeks to Recover from Hand Surgery

Introduction

On Saturday, November 9th, 2019 the Boston Celtics were taking on the San Antonio Spurs from the AT&T center in San Antonio, Texas. Gordon Hayward apparently ran into LaMarcus Aldridge toward the end of the second quarter of the game, and immediately Hayward realized something had happened.

Apparently, Hayward fractured the fourth metacarpal in his left hand. This injury necessitated a surgery that he underwent in New York on the afternoon of Monday, November 11th, 2019. He is expected to miss approximately 6 weeks or so to fully recover from the injury and the surgery that resulted from last weekend’s game in which the Boston Celtics defeated the San Antonio Spurs 135-115.

Boston Celtics Early Success this Season

The Celtics have gotten off to the best start out of all the teams in the National Basketball Association. Through 10 games the Celtics have a very respectable record of 9-1, and they have a 9 game winning streak heading into San Francisco to play the beaten up and struggling Golden State Warriors this Friday, November 15th, 2019. Their only loss came on the road against the extremely competitive Philadelphia 76ers in the first game of the year for Boston.

I believe many people expected the Celtics to be a decent team this year, but I don’t think people thought they would be atop the NBA standings. They have played a fairly weak schedule so far, but they have beat Eastern Conference powerhouse teams like the Milwaukee Bucks and the defending NBA champion Toronto Raptors. It will be interesting to see how they respond especially now playing without the services of Gordon Hayward for the next month and a half to two months.

The New Look Roster for the Boston Celtics

After a disappointing 2018 – 2019 NBA season the Boston team and starting point guard, Kyrie Irving, decided to go their separate ways. Irving signed with the Brooklyn Nets last offseason as a free agent. They also lost veteran forward Al Horford to free agency as he signed a huge contract with the rival Philadelphia 76ers. The Boston Celtics brought in free agent superstar point guard Kemba Walker who was formerly playing with the Charlotte Hornets / Bobcats.

With Kemba Walker running the point and distributing to sensational young NBA talents such as Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics are looking pretty good at the moment. It definitely hurts not having Gordon Hayward on the court, but thankfully he should only miss around 5 to 6 weeks and not the majority of the NBA regular season.

Predictions

As long as they remain relatively healthy, I think that the Celtics should be a contender in the Eastern Conference as the season winds down. I can see them finishing in the third or fourth playoff spot in the East, and most likely winning a playoff series or so. I would love to watch them match up against the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA postseason. That would be one hell of a battle between two teams that are very familiar with each other.

I don’t believe they will advance further than the Eastern Conference Finals at best, and when it comes to the Western Conference there is no chance. The West is currently a great deal stronger, and the elite squads in the Western Conference are the teams that are built for an NBA championship this season.

Hayward’s Career Regular Season Statistics

Season	Age	Tm	Lg	Pos	G	GS	MP	FG	FGA	FG%	3P	3PA	3P%	2P	2PA	2P%	eFG%	FT	FTA	FT%	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
2010-11	20	UTA	NBA	SF	72	17	1218	142	293	0.485	35	74	0.473	107	219	0.489	0.544	69	97	0.711	41	98	139	81	30	19	70	106	388
2011-12	21	UTA	NBA	SF	66	58	2015	267	586	0.456	55	159	0.346	212	427	0.496	0.503	193	232	0.832	59	171	230	207	53	41	109	106	782
2012-13	22	UTA	NBA	SF	72	27	2104	336	773	0.435	102	246	0.415	234	527	0.444	0.501	243	294	0.827	51	174	225	213	58	38	120	125	1017
2013-14	23	UTA	NBA	SF	77	77	2800	426	1032	0.413	85	280	0.304	341	752	0.453	0.454	311	381	0.816	62	329	391	400	110	40	212	155	1248
2014-15	24	UTA	NBA	SF	76	76	2618	484	1087	0.445	120	330	0.364	364	757	0.481	0.5	375	462	0.812	54	319	373	313	108	30	206	131	1463
2015-16	25	UTA	NBA	SF	80	80	2893	521	1202	0.433	143	410	0.349	378	792	0.477	0.493	393	477	0.824	61	336	397	296	95	27	202	183	1578
2016-17	26	UTA	NBA	SF	73	73	2516	545	1156	0.471	149	374	0.398	396	782	0.506	0.536	362	429	0.844	49	345	394	252	73	20	140	117	1601
2017-18	27	BOS	NBA	SF	1	1	5	1	2	0.5	0	1	0	1	1	1	0.5	0	0		0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	2
2018-19	28	BOS	NBA	PF	72	18	1863	296	635	0.466	77	231	0.333	219	404	0.542	0.527	156	187	0.834	51	271	322	244	62	23	105	104	825
2019-20	29	BOS	NBA	SF	8	8	249	61	110	0.555	13	30	0.433	48	80	0.6	0.614	16	19	0.842	6	51	57	33	6	2	15	15	151
Career			NBA		597	435	18281	3079	6876	0.448	779	2135	0.365	2300	4741	0.485	0.504	2118	2578	0.822	434	2095	2529	2039	595	240	1179	1043	9055
7 seasons		UTA	NBA		516	408	16164	2721	6129	0.444	689	1873	0.368	2032	4256	0.477	0.5	1946	2372	0.82	377	1772	2149	1762	527	215	1059	923	8077
3 seasons		BOS	NBA		81	27	2117	358	747	0.479	90	262	0.344	268	485	0.553	0.539	172	206	0.835	57	323	380	277	68	25	120	120	978

Career Playoff Statistics

Season	Age	Tm	Lg	Pos	G	GS	MP	FG	FGA	FG%	3P	3PA	3P%	2P	2PA	2P%	eFG%	FT	FTA	FT%	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
2011-12	21	UTA	NBA	SF	4	4	123	6	33	0.182	1	12	0.083	5	21	0.238	0.197	16	16	1	2	9	11	12	3	0	3	4	29
2016-17	26	UTA	NBA	SF	11	11	411	83	188	0.441	28	68	0.412	55	120	0.458	0.516	71	76	0.934	7	60	67	37	10	3	24	23	265
2018-19	28	BOS	NBA	PF	9	0	267	29	70	0.414	9	24	0.375	20	46	0.435	0.479	19	19	1	3	33	36	22	6	3	15	16	86
Career			NBA		24	15	801	118	291	0.405	38	104	0.365	80	187	0.428	0.471	106	111	0.955	12	102	114	71	19	6	42	43	380
2 seasons		UTA	NBA		15	15	534	89	221	0.403	29	80	0.363	60	141	0.426	0.468	87	92	0.946	9	69	78	49	13	3	27	27	294
1 season		BOS	NBA		9	0	267	29	70	0.414	9	24	0.375	20	46	0.435	0.479	19	19	1	3	33	36	22	6	3	15	16	86

Media Statements

"You always think about the worst-case scenario," Hayward rationalized.

"Certainly on the play, I didn't know exactly what happened. But I heard it and felt it, and knew something immediately was wrong. That's why I signaled, 'Let's go check this out.'"

"It's hard to know [how long you'll be out]," Hayward explained. "After looking at the X-ray, it was clear as day that it was broken. Nowadays, you don't know what that necessarily means ... it depends on where the break is and how long it can be.

"I'm just happy that I relatively got good news, and I shouldn't be that long."

"It's a drop in a bucket for sure," says Hayward. "Obviously frustrated. It's going to ... it sucks watching, and not being able to go out there and play, especially with the start that we've had.

"I think this time around, I'll be able to run around, use my legs still, maintain my conditioning, which I'm very thrilled about, and then be around the team, too. And kinda stay involved, which is good."

"They put a pin and a plate in there, but that supposedly makes it stronger and makes it heal faster," Hayward stated. "I think that's a good thing this time around."

"I think we'll take it, as cliché as it sounds, we'll take it day by day and week by week," Hayward expressed. "It's one of those things that once the bone is healed, then it's kind of how much can you tolerate and how well does my body handle with the swelling, kind of how well it takes ramping up activities and doing different basketball things.

"Honestly, looking at the plan that we set up today and just kind of attacking each day. Hopefully I'll be back sooner rather than later."

Sources:

“Celtics' Gordon Hayward says recovery from hand injury 'a drop in a bucket'”, Tim Bontemps, espn.com, November 14, 2019.

“Gordon Hayward”, basketball-reference.com, November 14, 2019.

Written by: David Green

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