Boston Celtics Sign Gordon Hayward and Get Some Help for Isaiah Thomas

The Boston Celtics finished the 2016-17 NBA season as the top seed in the Eastern Conference, but lost to the second seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in the conference finals despite a tremendous performance by Isaiah Thomas. On July 4th, the Celtics added a player they hope will take them to the next level and beat the three time conference champion Cavaliers.

Forward Gordon Hayward confirmed that he will leave the Utah Jazz as a free agent and play for Boston in the 2017-18 season. Hayward, 27, played his first seven NBA seasons with the Jazz and averaged a career high 21.9 points per game last season. The Indiana native and former Butler University player was one of the more coveted free agents this season, and no doubt one selling point for Hayward is that the current Celtics head coach is Brad Stevens, who was his coach at Butler. Hayward was on the Butler team that lost to Duke in the 2011 NCAA Finals, so we’ll see if he can help his coach get an NBA Championship to make up for losing out in 2011 (and also 2012, when Butler lost to UCONN in the National Final, which was another Stevens coached team).

Here’s some Hayward highlights from last season: