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By Tony Massarotti, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Let’s make it as easy as possible for everyone: Gordon Hayward wants Indiana. Indiana wants Gordon Hayward. But to get there, both need the Celtics.
In this way, Danny Ainge held the keys to unlocking the case.
Look, this is the NBA, so it’s complicated. But you’ll just have to take my word for it, take this as educated speculation, call it purely my interpretation. But that’s what I believe. Due to salary cap constraints, Hayward cannot simply step aside and become a free agent and then sign with the Indiana Pacers in the city and state where he was born, educated, and resides. He needs the Celtics to sign him a contract that is workable for the Pacers and acceptable to Hayward, then trade him home.
If Hayward just wanted to play for the Celtics, he could have gone for his contract and ended his time here on a one-year contract for over $ 34 million, taking another chance at a championship. If he wanted to be the star of a team, he could have simply stepped down a few days ago and then signed with a dead end organization like the New York Knicks or the Atlanta Hawks starting at 6 p.m. tonight. (If you think tampering is happening in politics, you should see the NBA.) These options have all been on the table for weeks and months, which brings me to that.
Here is the only option that I (and you?) Should not and cannot accept: Hayward doesn’t know what he wants to do yet. Please. Hayward knows it. And if he doesn’t, his wife surely will. Or his agent. Or all. Hayward has preferred choices at this point, and it’s just a matter of whether he’s willing to take option B, C, or D if he can’t get option A.
Option A was, is, and always has been Indiana.
From the start, Hayward’s time here in Boston has been a disaster. When he signed with the Celtics, Hayward did so to become a centerpiece. Six weeks later, the Celtics traded for Kyrie Irving. Then Hayward suffered a horrific injury in his first game with Boston, which allowed rookie Jayson Tatum to play more. When Hayward returned the following season, he wasn’t the same player – who would be? – then broke his hand in an abnormal injury when he got his fingers caught in San Antonio’s LaMarcus Aldridge jersey. In the third year, he couldn’t stay on the ground, and then was derailed by a pandemic. When play resumed, Hayward rolled an ankle in the NBA bubble, missed the birth of his son, was not a factor in the last playoff series against the Miami Heat.
Made whatever okay with this guy in boston? Yeesh. Talk about unhappiness and sadness.
It all brings us back to the Celtics and Ainge, who are in a tight spot. Again, due to the NBA salary cap, the Celtics have limited options through which they can acquire more talent to put around Tatum and Jaylen Brown. They signed Al Horford, who left. They traded for Irving, who left. Hayward could now be their last major portal. Do they owe him anything after the train sank in Boston? Or are they forced to do what’s best for their team? In some ways, Ainge and the club are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
Obviously, there are still a bunch of unanswered questions on this subject. Are Indiana Talks Dead? If yes, why? Are the Celtics playing hardball and blocking Hayward’s path? Or is a deal just impossible because the Celtics don’t want anything to do with someone like Myles Turner? Rather than playing for the Knicks or Hawks, wouldn’t Hayward be better served to play a lesser role for the Celtics and at least have a shot at winning a championship? Or is he so traumatized by his Boston experience that he wants to play enough for an NBA lie?
But make no mistake about it. The first option is clear. If Hayward could sign Indiana tonight and be done with it all, he would. He would close the book on Boston and end the frustrating chapter of the peak years of his career. He would go home. He was going to move on.
But he needs the Celtics’ help to do it.
You can hear Tony Massarotti weekdays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. EST on the Felger & Massarotti program. Follow him on twitter @TonyMassarotti.
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