by Gordon Hayward, who has sustained a serious injury, isn’t a shocking development at this point, but his wife, who is pursuing the Charlotte Hornets for allegedly mistreating his health, might raise a few eyebrows.
The Hornets forward’s day began when the team ruled him out for Friday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves because of a so-called bruised shoulder. The injury was apparently the same one that caused him to miss eight games earlier this month, but he had since returned and completed three games.
The final game was a tough game, with Hayward recording seven points on 3-of-10 shooting with two rebounds, three assists and four turnovers.
Robyn Hayward, the player’s wife, chose to respond by posting a screenshot of the Hornets’ official injury report showing the contusion line and revealing what she believed to be the real story: Hayward had a fractured left scalp, aka Shoulder blade tightened and the Hornets let him play through.
She sounded quite frustrated with how the team had treated her husband and said the team failed to protect not only Gordon but other players as well.
Robyn Hayward spills the tea over the Hornets
The full text of Hayward’s Instagram statement:
He actually has a broken shoulder blade… which they let him play with in the last game… that’s why he couldn’t move his arm up in the last game… anyone who knows Gordon knows he has a goal and that is to win and play right, he is the most honest player/person you can find. If he doesn’t play, it’s because of something more than a bruise…
I will stop here and not go into previous things.
Hayward didn’t stop there.
Just to clarify – the team doesn’t say anything about that. It’s a broken shoulder. What a broken bone is. I’m over not protecting players. I just spoke to a mother of a young player and she said the same thing…
About an hour later, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that Hayward will be sidelined indefinitely with a fractured left shoulder.
Regardless of the circumstances, a broken shoulder is a brutal turn of events for a player who is very familiar with brutal turn of events.
Hornets’ Gordon Hayward picks up another injury
Since leaving the Utah Jazz in 2017, Hayward has suffered a broken shin, a broken hand, a sprained ankle, another sprained ankle, a broken finger, a foot injury that required a cast, and now this, plus a stint on concussion protocol.
There might not be a player with more snakebite in the NBA, which is tough on both Hayward and the team that signed him to a four-year, $120 million deal in 2020.
In three seasons with the Hornets, Hayward has played 104 games overall and averaged 17.5 points, 46.4 percent shooting (40.0 percent from depth), 5.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists. He’s still an effective player on the pitch, he just couldn’t stay on the pitch.
