Prior to suffering a career-altering injury, Hayward, 34, was named to the 2017 All-Star team.
On Thursday, Gordon Hayward declared his retirement from the game of basketball. As a member of the Utah Jazz, Hayward played in the NBA for 14 seasons before being selected to the All-Star squad in 2017.
Hayward posted on social media, saying, “It’s been an amazing ride and I’m so grateful to everyone who helped me achieve more than l ever imagined.”
Thank you 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/fqbw3WML0n
— Gordon Hayward (@gordonhayward) August 1, 2024
In 835 career games, Hayward, 34, averaged 15.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 3.5 assists. Prior to that, as coach Brad Stevens’ outstanding player at Butler, he guided the Bulldogs to the 2010 NCAA title game. In the 2010 NBA Draft, Hayward was chosen by the Jazz with the ninth overall pick. During his seven years in Utah, he showed growth in each season, leading to his best-ever professional season in 2016–17, when he averaged 21.9 points (on 59.5% true shooting), 5.4 rebounds, and 3.5 assists.
Gordon reunited with Stevens the next summer when he signed as an unrestricted free agency with the Boston Celtics. It appeared that he would be a perpetual All-Star at that moment, but practically as soon as he on the court with his new team, his career took a turn for the worse. After a horrific accident in the first quarter of the Cleveland Cavaliers game on opening night, Hayward broke his tibia and dislocated his ankle. He was out for the remainder of the season, and even though he was still a productive player when he joined the Celtics in 2018–19, he was never able to replicate his success from Utah.
Remaining a free agency in 2020, Hayward signed a sign-and-trade deal to join the Charlotte Hornets. In his debut season with the Hornets, he averaged 19.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 4.1 assists, which helped them advance during LaMelo Ball’s rookie campaign. However, injuries plagued him throughout his tenure in Charlotte, and this past February, it resulted in a trade to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Hayward’s time with the Thunder was largely forgettable; during the last three games of their second-round series against the Dallas Mavericks, he was not part of the starting lineup.
Between the start and finish of his professional career, Hayward was a reliable, intelligent passer who could shoot, attack closeouts, and make smart offensive decisions while holding his own in a variety of positions. In his best moments, he was all of these in addition to being a prolific scorer who, with practice and good technique, could finish through contact, score at all three levels, and be a team’s top choice for a 50-win year. It’s unfortunate that Hayward’s tenure in that version wasn’t longer.
Only the Pistons and Jazz Can Become the Cavaliers. Isaac Okoro’s “Intense Proposal”
The only teams capable of making a “meaningful offer” to Cleveland Cavaliers wing Isaac Okoro are the Detroit Pistons and Utah Jazz, according to NBA analyst Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report.
Okoro is a free agent with restrictions.
“Although Okoro is only 23 years old and coming off a season in which he shot 39.1 percent from deep, he has never been tasked with a significant scoring role,” Bailey wrote. “That, along with a 6’9” wingspan and consecutive seasons with an above-average defensive projected plus-minus, make it difficult not to be fascinated by his three-and-d potential.
However, for some reason, the Cavaliers don’t seem to be convinced by those facts that Okoro may return. The restricted free agent is still unsigned more than a month into the offseason, and only the Pistons and Jazz have the cap room to seriously consider him.
Okoro has two options as a restricted free agent: he can accept an offer sheet from another team or re-sign with the Cavaliers.
Cleveland would be given 48 hours to match Okoro’s offer sheet.
Okoro, an Auburn graduate, was selected by the Cavaliers with the fifth overall choice in the 2020 NBA Draft. Throughout 279 games, he has averaged 8.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.4 blocks.
The qualifying offer for Okoro is valued at $11.8 million. If he accepted the Cavaliers’ qualifying offer, he would become an unrestricted free agency the following offseason.
Okoro played for the Cavaliers in 69 games during the previous campaign. 9 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.8 steals, 0.5 blocks, and a 49.0% field goal, 39.1% three-pointer, and 67.9% free-throw percentage were all averages for him.
NBA writer Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com claims that the Cavaliers had extended several offers to Okoro, “what they deem fair.”
“Reliable sources claim that the Cavs have already extended several reasonable, multi-year offers to Okoro that are commensurate with his market value and organizational standing,” Fedor wrote. “He has financial security because of those possible deals as well.”
