2:34pm: Hayward has changed his mind four times since Saturday, a source tells Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link). Agents are speculating to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News that a sign-and-trade or possibly a separate Celtics deal is holding up a formal announcement (Twitter link).
2:25pm: Boston’s offer is $127.8MM over four years, with a player option likely after the third season, reports A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.
2:05pm: The leak regarding Hayward’s decision may lead to a delay in his announcement, Himmelsbach tweets, with Bartelstein suggesting the situation may not be resolved today. “That was the goal,” he said, “but now we’ve got to kind of regroup here a bit.”
Jazz president Steve Starks has tweeted a statement that reads, “We trust Gordon and his agent that no decision has been made. Good communication all day and a great relationship.”
1:50pm: The Celtics haven’t heard from Hayward yet, but they aren’t denying the report from ESPN, tweets Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald. Sources are telling Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe that the move is a formality and the teams just need to be notified (Twitter link).
1:40pm: Conflicting information is beginning to filter out concerning Gordon Hayward. David Aldridge of TNT claims Hayward has not reached a decision and is still weighing his options (Twitter link). Hayward’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, says the same thing to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com. “Gordon hasn’t made a decision yet,” Bartelstein said. “We are still working through it.” (Twitter link).
1:19pm: Gordon Hayward will announce today that he’s signing with the Celtics, tweets Chris Haynes of ESPN.com.
The All-Star forward, who spent his first seven NBA seasons in Utah, was considered the top prize left on the free agent market. The Celtics, Jazz and Heat all held meetings with him over the past three days. The move will reunite him with Brad Stevens, his college coach at Butler.
Boston’s belief that it had a shot at Hayward affected its decision to be conservative in its pursuit of Jimmy Butler and Paul George, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
With about $27MM in cap space, the Celtics don’t have quite enough cap room to sign Hayward to a full max deal. Hayward could agree to accept a little bit less, or the Celtics could try to move some salary before the moratorium ends on Thursday. One path, Blakely tweets, is to pull their qualifying offer for Kelly Olynyk, renounce all their free agents, waive Jordan Mickey and Demetrius Jackson and trade away one other contract.
Hayward, 27, is coming off his best season, setting careers highs with 21.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. He gives the Celtics another dangerous shooter who can stretch defenses and share the scoring load with Isaiah Thomas.
Celtics vs Cavs ECF
It was going to be that way even if we didn’t sign Hayward
According to FS1, nothing is confirmed per David Aldridge and Hayward’s agent
Not too shocked about this. Been rumored for like 3 years now
Yeah baby!
Hell yea. IT Bradley Heyward/Crowder Crowder/Heyward Horford. With a bench of Brown Taytum Smart Olynyk Rozier and then some other people will come and want to sign with us now that they see that we are serious contenders now. The Celtics are in a better position than the Cavs considering we have not been rumored to self destruct and as an added bonus we have a GM, and a very good one at that
I think they lose Olynyk now I think they will try and trade him or just let him walk by taking the QO off the table
This should help shrink the cap between the Celtics and the Cavs. I’m not sure if they are there yet, but Hayward and Tatum it is a lot closer than before. I’m not sure how much money they have left, but I think re-signing Olynyk is the next move and possibly Jerebko too.
Why would you want Olynyk and Jerebko back? They’re useless. Bring on Zizic and Yanusele!
Yabusele
With some seasoning for their rookies, Brown and Tatum, plus their new core taking some time to mesh together…I’m going to go ahead and say, when it’s all said and done, the Celtics will be representing the Eastern Conference next season…
If they get anybody else I believe they should go after Andrew Bogut if heathy he could be that center of the bench and shouldn’t cost to much it just makes sense
As a heat fan, I mostly just feel bad for utah and their great fanbase. That’s such a good organization. It sucks to see this happen to them as they gOT to this point.
The whole white people in boston thing makes sense, let’s not kid ourselves…that might have been a big part of the sell, as well as their assets. He’ll be a really big star there…
Boston needs a big… Heat should quickly reup with our free agents
“White people in Boston thing”
But it is a thing though lol
SMH when people bring up race unnecessarily in everything
a white star in boston for the 1st time since Bird would be a big deal. Let’s not pretend it wouldn’t be
Are you joking the last White NBA star in Boston was Olynyk, after his game 7 playoff performance
There hasn’t been a white star in basketball since bird
Steve Nash
Dirk
Good job Justin you named the only 2 good white players since Bird! One of them was Canadian and the other was German though, JJ Redick is decent though right?
lol I guess you forgot Robert Parrish, Cedric Maxwell and Dennis Johnson were all black and they were stars along with Bird
Lol Boston is a notoriously racist city outside of basketball. Adam Jones was recently berated with the N-word when the Orioles played the Red Sox. Everyone in Boston loves Tom Brady. Boston is kind of racist gmflores you think it’s unnecessary to call that out??
What a surprise they love Tom Brady. You can find racists everywhere.
And I’m a red sox fan. I’m fully aware of that stuff, which is why it was mentioned
If he wanted to be in a city with mostly white people, he would have just stayed in Utah. And seriously Larry Bird? Bird was a transcendent talent and a Hall of Famer, Hayward just made his first All-Star team 7th season, and arguably isn’t even the best player on his team (or presumed to be team since the deals not confirmed yet). No ones rolling out the red carpet for this dude, especially a guy who doesn’t get them anywhere close to getting past the Cavs.
Waiters will go back to MIA now probably. I’m sure Stevens relationship with him helped.
Unless the Knicks jump in with Hill now off the market. Waiters’ ability to play both guard positions is a good fit for them.
So Utah’s entire on the rise team is destroyed after 1 season
savage huh
I know it won’t happen but if the Knicks could pawn Melo to Boston now, that would be great.
Good god no. Melo is terrible and not what the Cs need… if you can’t pull off a miracle trade for AD then sign some cheap PF/C veterans to 1 year deals to fill your bench and roll with up hat you have. Then see what you can do next year in the draft to address your need at C if the draft and stash guy doesn’t pan out
I’m a Knicks fan, looking to dump Melo. I don’t care how the C’s do.
I’m sorry you’re a Knicks fan
What would the C’s have to give up just to match it they don’t have the contracts to do it most of there players make less than 7m a year
Why would they want Melo?
Celtics should trade Crowder and their 1st for next year (since they have Brooklyn’s anyway) for Nikola Vucevic
Nikola doesnt fit the mold/type of players the celtics covet. Jae Crowder is better than Nikola especially in this new nba era.
Should have went to Miami, now Tatum has to play behind this guy? Smh
Perhaps, but that is one deep team. And about to get deeper as the draft picks get used.
Yea they will be really good in 2 years once Lebron slows down.
Completely agree. They will be good now. Great in a couple years when Jaylen and Tatum develop
Yup imagine they get Deandre Ayton or Bamba for that frontline though? Uuuuuhweeeeee
Tatum and Brown don’t have star potential. They’re potentially good players. But stars? Nah. And neither will hit their ceiling unless they play. Where are the minutes for both if they get Hayward?
I think they are trying to backtrack so he can let the Jazz know that he is leaving before he officially agrees to a deal
Gordon Hayward’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, tells ESPN: “Gordon hasn’t made a decision yet. We are still working through it.”
#fakenews
I loathe this cultural moment. Illogical, unearned swipes at credibility, with just a few keystrokes, a hashtag, and no evidence to back it up. stop imitating trash, and start creating something useful. please.
Cavs 2017-18 Finals Champs
Yes sir!!
Is he related to DeAndre Jordan?
If it’s separate Boston deal holding this up in pretty excited. Sign and trade, meh. Hope it’s another deal.
Whatever the hold up is I hope it sorts its self out soon
And that he still ends up with the Celtics