After telling reporters that he feels that he’s ahead of schedule in his injury rehab, Boston Celtics forward Gordon Hayward has yet another update on his progress from a hand surgery that repaired a fractured fourth metacarpal in his left hand.
This time though, the update would be provided by his head coach, Brad Stevens (per The Athletic’s Jared Weiss).
“[Hayward’s] able to run up and down the court,” Stevens explains. “He’s able to do non-contact drills and he’ll have another meeting on Monday over FaceTime with his doctor to look at the healing process, discuss what’s next… we’ll know more from there.”
Having sustained the injury on Nov. 9 against the San Antonio Spurs and opting to have surgery just a couple of days later, Hayward — who looks much improved from this time last season — should be about halfway through his original six-week timeline for full recovery.
The team has went just 6-4 in his absence while having Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker and Jaylen Brown available, so his playmaking and decision-making is clearly missed by Boston. However, the Celtics are unlikely to rush him back just to right the ship; they didn’t do it with Walker’s neck sprain or Brown’s infection.
Instead, Boston will need to continue to make due without one of their top players and Stevens will have to have his wits about him as he tries to mesh the volume scoring efforts of Hayward, Brown, Walker and Tatum.
A one-time All-Star, Hayward has averaged 18.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 0.8 steals per game while shooting 55.5% from the field and 43.3% from three this season.
