Utah Jazz small forward Gordon Hayward is accustomed to flying under the radar. In high school the only Power 5 basketball program that offered Hayward a scholarship was the Purdue Boilermakers. Hayward would ultimately play his college ball for the Butler Bulldogs where he would help them reach the Final Four in 2010 for the first time in school history. And after Hayward averaged 15.5 points and 8.2 rebounds as a sophomore, he would forgo his final two years in college in order to try his hand at the NBA.
The Jazz would make Hayward the ninth overall pick of the 2010 NBA Draft. With the Jazz, Hayward was joining a team that was fresh off of making the Western Conference Semifinals and they were led by an iconic head coach in Jerry Sloan whose 1,221 career wins are the third most in NBA history. But as a rookie Hawyard had a front row seat for the ongoing feud between Sloan and former Jazz point guard Deron Williams which led to the head coach resigning and the point guard being traded. The Jazz would remain in contention for the playoffs with Tyrone Corbin as the head coach until the 2013-2014 NBA season when they lost 57 games for the first time since their first season in Salt Lake City which was 1979-1980 campaign. After Corbin was fired in 2014, he would be replaced by Quin Snyder who would be the architect of the Jazz’s rebuilding process with Hayward as the center piece.
In each of Hayward’s seven NBA seasons his production has increased. This season Hayward is averaging 22.2 points per game and he is a big reason why the Jazz are in first place in the Northwest Division. And in spite of the fact that Hayward was not selected to the NBA’s All-Star Game, if he is able to lead the Jazz to their first postseason appearance since 2012, he will no longer be a secret to the basketball world outside of Salt Lake City.
What makes Hayward the player that he has become is the fact that he is able to hold his own at one of the toughest positions in the NBA. The small forward position in the NBA features the likes Jimmy Butler with the Chicago Bulls, LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors, and Paul George of the Indiana Pacers. Grant it that only Durant plays in the Western Conference, but Hayward has been able to hold his own as one the better small forwards in the NBA.
After Hayward missed the first six games of the NBA season due to a finger injury, he debuted by getting 28 points in a 114-109 win over the New York Knicks. On November 29, Hayward scored 31 points and dished out 7 assists in a 112-101 victory over the Houston Rockets which was the first of three consecutive games in which he scored at least 30 points. To Hayward’s credit he has five, 30-point games so far this season and for him it is coming at the right time.
Hayward is scheduled to earn nearly $16.7 million from the Jazz for next season, but he has the ability to opt out of his deal this summer in order to become an unrestricted free agent. And with the NBA’s new television deal, player salaries are exploding as Hayward could be in line to benefit from that. However would he entertain leaving Salt Lake City?
Hayward is a native of Indianapolis, Indiana where he played for a small college in Butler before playing for the Jazz in one of the smaller NBA markets. Big market teams such as the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Brooklyn Nets, and Los Angeles Lakers could potentially be in line for Hayward’s services this summer where he could become a household name.
If Hayward were to leave Utah, the two teams that make the most sense for him are the Celtics and the Lakers. The Celtics are coached by Brad Stevens who just happened to be Hayward’s college coach at Butler as the two have a rapport. And The City of Boston would welcome Hayward with open arms as they looking to see the Celtics get back to being a championship level team. The Lakers have one of the younger teams in the NBA and if there is a glaring weakness on this team, it is the fact that they are missing a proven scorer to build around. In the case of both the Celtics and Lakers, they each run offenses that are predicated on ball movement and moving without the basketball which are two things that Hayward excels at.
For the Nets they are simply desperate to become relevant as they are arguably the worst team in the NBA. The Nets are still recovering from one of the worst trades in NBA history when former general manager Billy King mortgaged the future on getting washed up players from the Celtics in 2013. The Celtics have the option to swap first-round picks with the Nets this year, while Boston outright will receive their first-round choice next year. Thus the Nets need a quality player that would make them respectable while also putting people in the seats. But would Hayward want to be a part of rebuilding process in Brooklyn while doing it under the umbrella of the media in New York City?
The Heat were spurned nearly three years ago when James decided to return to the Cavaliers. Heat president Pat Riley allowed longtime shooting guard Dwyane Wade to leave in free agency last summer to sign with the Bulls, while a blood clot condition prematurely ended the playing career of power forward Chris Bosh. The Heat are also dealing with a rash of injuries which includes the likes of swingman Justise Winslow as they are on pace to lose 50 games for the first time since the 2007-2008 NBA season. But the Heat still have Riley calling the shots and he’ll be more than willing to pull out all of the stops in order to get things turned around, and luring Hayward to Miami could team him with a healthy Winslow and center Hassan Whiteside which would once again point this organization in the direction of the playoffs.
But whichever NBA city that Hayward will call home next season will definitely benefit from having one the better wing players in the league. And if Hayward continues to produce at the level that he currently is, his silky smooth playing style will no longer be a secret that is only known to the folks of Salt Lake City.
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