Former NBA star Gordon Hayward recently announced his retirement from the NBA, and it seems he’s spending some time reflecting on the choices he made throughout his career.
One of those reflections revealed an interesting admission from Hayward. During a recent interview, he disclosed that he was “really close” to signing with the Miami Heat back in 2017.
“I remember vividly telling my agent after each meeting, like I started with Miami, and I’m like, ‘I want to go to Miami. We don’t even need to do the other meetings,’” he said. “Miami is the place I want to be, and he kind of was like, ‘Well, we got to hear everyone out.’ The Heat have always been a first-class organization, so I was really, really close to signing there. I feel like Spo (Erik Spoelstra) is one of the best coaches in the league, and obviously, Pat Riley is legendary in his own right. I was very close. Also, my brother-in-law lives in Miami. My wife would have loved living there and the beach and everything, but ultimately decided to go to Boston.”
That period was an exciting time for Hayward. He had been named to his first All-Star Game the previous season and was one of the hottest commodities on the market that offseason.
The Celtics edged out the Heat to secure Hayward’s services, and things were looking promising for the then 27-year-old star.
Unfortunately, in the very first regular season game of the 2017-18 season, Hayward suffered a devastating injury. He fractured his tibia and dislocated his ankle in his left leg just five minutes into his Celtics career.
While he was able to return to the court the following season, it took him a while to regain his form, and he only managed to play more than 70 games in a regular season once during the remaining years of his career.
Still, he was a solid player throughout the rest of his career.
His best post-injury season arguably came in the 2020-21 campaign, when he averaged 19.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.2 steals per game. The stat line is solid, but Hayward missed a large portion of the season with injury, playing in only 44 games.
While Hayward’s decision to join Boston can’t be blamed for the major injury he suffered, it does seem that Hayward still has immense respect for the Heat franchise and thinks about what he could have accomplished had he joined it.
It will be interesting to see what Hayward plans to do with the rest of his career now that his playing days are over. Perhaps he’ll spend time in South Florida and continue to wonder what might have been.
