When Gordon Hayward signed with the Boston Celtics in the summer of 2017, Utah Jazz fans were understandably upset. But they took that anger and channeled it in some poor ways. In a recent appearance on the Pardon My Take podcast, Hayward says fans left burned jerseys on his doorstep. The Hayward clan had to hire security because of the backlash. And this is Utah, a fan base that's at least perceived to be a lot less nutty than the Lakers or Cavs.
Despite all this, Hayward had never seen the video where the offending culprit offered up an interesting Eastern Conference burn while Gordon's No. 20 Jazz uni turned to embers: "Thanks for betraying us. Have fun being LeBron's little B-word."
There was a lot of laughter all around as they watched the video and heard the line, but Hayward had a solid rejoinder. LeBron is in the Western Conference now, and Hayward's Celtics squad appears poised to take his slot in the Finals this coming June:
"Now the Jazz might be LeBron's little b word."
It's important to remember Hayward didn't announce his decision to sign with Boston in front of a national TV audience, and there were legitimate reasons—most notably his former college coach is Brad Stevens—he moved to Bean Town. But some Jazz fans decided to burn Hayward's jersey anyway, and LeBron, no stranger to this sort of inane castigation, spoke up about the hypocrisy involved when former fans burn a player's jersey:
Little b's, indeed.