The NBA offseason has been an exciting one already and there are still more free agents who have yet to declare where they will be “taking their talents” for the near future. With Paul George unexpectedly landing in Oklahoma and Chris Paul leaving The Clippers to join James Harden and The Rockets, it appears the trend of big time NBA players leaving their established NBA franchise is continuing.
This leads us to All-Star Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward. While the fans of Utah have been clear on their desire for Hayward to resign with the Jazz, see “stayward” billboard below, Hayward has been busy visiting Miami and Boston to hear pitches for his services.
The Jazz have been somewhat active in the free agency market as well recently trading for Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio, and re-signing Jazz wingman and close friend to Hayward, Joe Ingles, but will that be enough to convince Hayward to stay? After Hayward’s meeting with The Jazz on Thursday ended in him voicing his intention to test free agency, it doesn’t appear very likely.
Hayward recently met with The Miami Heat who wooed Hayward by posting photo-shopped banners of him in a Heat uniform around downtown (see below).
But The Boston Celtics might have the best pitch to see Hayward on overall. Gordon’s former college head coach, Brad Stevens, now head coach of The Celtics is considered to be huge selling point for Hayward, and who can blame him. Add that with the recent resurgence of The Celtics in last year’s playoff and the illustrious history of the franchise and the city as a whole, it makes it easy to see why many are considering Boston to be the likely choice. The New York Post reported a video of the presentation displayed on the jumbotron at Fenway Park The Celtics played for Hayward which included historic footage from past championships and former Celtic and Red Sox greats urging Hayward to jump ship and join Boston.
Despite the visits Hayward made to potential franchises, The Jazz are still confident they can re-sign him. ESPN reports he is still “engaged” with he Jazz and has been working out with Jazz trainers during the offseason. While the surprising trade that sent Paul George to The Thunder definitely helps now that The Celtics can’t acquire both George and Hayward to formulate what some refer to as a “super team”, I can’t help but assume my natural pessimistic Jazz fan mentality and assume that Hayward most likely won’t be in a Jazz jersey next year.
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