BOSTON – Gordon Hayward isn’t nostalgic. What for? It’s been 14 months since he left Boston. A full season has passed. Another half of one, too. He still speaks to people within the Celtics organization. His Celtics ex-teammate, Terry Rozier, is now a current one. Injuries and last season’s downsized schedule are the only reason he hasn’t been to Boston, a city Hayward called home for three years and where Hayward insists he has positive memories.
“I think that I built a lot of great relationships in Boston,” Hayward said in a phone interview. “With the staff, with the coaches, training staff, the players. Those are the things that you remember more than anything. I know a lot of retired players always talk about it, but that's just the truth.”
It’s easy to forget what Hayward once meant to Boston. In 2017, Hayward, then a sought-after free agent, signed a four-year, $128 million deal with the Celtics. He did it in part to play for Brad Stevens, his former college coach. He did it in part for a chance to play for a championship, which the Celtics, who traded for Kyrie Irving weeks later, seemed poised to do. “When you decide you want to play for the Boston Celtics, there's so much tradition and history, that's always your goal, to try to win a championship,” Hayward says. “So I certainly thought that.”
