After a long day filled with twists and turns, free agent forward Gordon Hayward announced his intent to sign with the Boston Celtics in a piece for The Players' Tribune.
Thanking Utah fans on his way out the door, Hayward stressed how tight his bond with Celtics coach Brad Stevens is, with the two having previously worked together at Butler University.
There was the special history of the Celtics, as a franchise — from Russell, to Bird, to Pierce, and it goes on. There was the amazing potential of this current Celtics roster, as a team — from ownership, to the front office, to a talented roster with Isaiah, and Al, and everyone else. And of course, there was Coach Stevens: Not just for the relationship that we’ve built off the court — but also for the one that we started building on the court, all of those years ago, in Indiana.
For those of you catching up, ESPN reporter Chris Haynes was on this story hours before it dropped, breaking the news early Tuesday afternoon.
Free-agent Gordon Hayward plans to sign with the Boston Celtics, league sources tell ESPN.
But moments after the report came down that Hayward was all set to head to Boston, conflicting reports from people at multiple outlets threw cold water on the situation.
Okay. Strap in. Told by a source w/knowledge of the process that Gordon Hayward has NOT made a decision yet & is still in the process. FWIW.
Gordon Hayward's agent, Mark Bartelstein, tells ESPN: "Gordon hasn't made a decision yet. We are still working through it."
Tweets continued to pour in on Tuesday, with information coming from reporters in both Boston and Utah.
League source tells me "Gordon has changed his mind four times in the last four days"
Hayward's agent Mark Bartelstein on whether final word is coming today: "That was the goal, but now we've got to kind of regroup here a bit"
Just spoke w/GH'sagent, says his client hasn't made a decision, is "upset someone would report that. He's trying to re-evaluate everything."
The noise even went as high as the President of the Jazz, who stressed that the team felt great about the communication between Hayward and themselves.
We trust Gordon and his agent that no decision has been made. Good communication all day and a great relationship.
Mercifully, the saga ended, and Hayward will now joining last year's No. 1 seed in the East.The signs were there prior to Hayward spilling the beans, with one of Hayward's trainers following a flurry of Celtics on social media.
If you guys are trying to read the tea leaves and start pre-writing your posts, here's who Hayward's trainer followed recently on IG: pic.twitter.com/gw0xvMGiuT
Celtics star Isaiah Thomas shared his own reaction to the signing on Twitter, not holding back during the uncertainty.
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After seemingly missing out on a number of big trade targets over the last year or so—Jimmy Butler and Paul George among them—the Celtics will expect Hayward would be the big fish they need to help push the team forward, mentoring the young wings they've added over the last couple drafts. There's still a lot of sorting out for them to do in order to make this work salary wise, but that's the easier part of the equation for Boston. They got the guy they wanted, and that's what counts.
On the other side of the coin, Jazz fans have to be feeling pretty dejected right now. With the piece coming out in The Players' Tribune after a lot of hemming and hawing, it has to feel like a bunch of PR spin to the people in Utah. There will be some hard feelings left behind because of how this went down, including from important figures in the Utah government.
Really glad he waited to get that cool Players Tribune blogpost done to kick us in the gut again.
Be honest though—following this was a hell of a lot more fun than listening to your drunk uncle at the family cookout.
