Boston Celtics forward Gordon Hayward suffered a broken hand in the team’s win over the San Antonio Spurs according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The timeline for his return to the team is unclear, per Woj.
Boston’s Gordon Hayward will see a specialist on Monday to determine need for surgery on fractured left hand, agent Mark Bartelstein of @PrioritySports tells ESPN. If needed, surgery will take place Monday. Timeline on a return is unclear until then.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 9, 2019
The Celtics acknowledged the injury as well, confirming the Woj report.
“Broken hand, no timeline,” Brad Stevens said, via Marc D’Amico of nba.com. “Going to the doctors tomorrow, and (they’ll) decide if he needs to do surgery or not. It sounds like, should he decide that the surgery option might actually be a better timeline. So we’ll see how that all plays out.”
The fracture is to Hayward’s offhand, so the side effects are perhaps slightly mitigated. Had it been to his shooting hand, the road to recovery may have been more difficult. Nevertheless, this season has been a return to form for Gordon Hayward. He was largely ineffective last season as he got his feet back under him following a gruesome leg injury in 2017. This year, however, his numbers are returning to normal. He is averaging 18.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game while shooting a blistering 55.5% from the floor.
In the interim, Boston could give some time to first-round pick Romeo Langford. The 6’4″ wing from Indiana put up 27 points on 66% shooting while blocking six shots. Yeah, one game is the smallest of sample sizes, and the Celtics are rolling at the moment, but the youngster could provide some high-upside depth.
