By Ty Anderson, 985TheSportsHub.com
A four-year, $120 million deal with the Charlotte Hornets wasn’t enough to snap Gordon Hayward’s stretch of horrendous injury luck, as Hayward’s Charlotte debut paved the way for Hayward’s first injury as a Hornet, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
Hornets' Gordon Hayward has suffered an avulsion fracture of his fifth finger on his right hand.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 16, 2020
An avulsion fracture, by the way, is when the tendon or ligament pulls off a piece of the bone.
First of all, what a weird and by all means unnecessary way to say pinkie. Unless this is Charania’s way of subtly letting us all know that Hayward has more than five fingers. (Honestly hoping it’s the latter.)
Secondly, man… when do we acknowledge this guy as cursed?
We obviously all remember the season-ending injury Hayward suffered in his Celtics debut in 2017, and the year-long recovery that followed. But even last year, Hayward got off to an All-Star level start and promptly suffered a broken hand that shelved him for 13 games. Hayward rebounded and finished strong, with 17.5 points per game and a career-best 50 percent field goal percentage, and then suffered a significant ankle sprain in the C’s first game of the postseason. That injury forced Hayward to exit the Orlando bubble, and while he returned for the final four games of the postseason, his impact felt marginal at best.
Overall, Hayward missed 109 regular season games and 31 playoff tilts to injury during his three-year run with the Celtics.
And it looks like those troubles have followed him to Charlotte.
The Hornets will begin their 2020-21 season on Dec. 23, but will not play the Celtics in the first half of their season slate.