Gordon Hayward will be teaming up with Isaiah Thomas in Boston. AFP/GETTY IMAGES FILE PHOTO
BOSTON—Free agent Gordon Hayward has agreed to join the Boston Celtics in a move which will reunite him with his former US college coach Brad Stevens, The Players’ Tribune reported on Tuesday.
The all-star swingman Hayward addressed his decision to move from the Utah Jazz to the Celtics in an article he wrote for the website which was titled “Thank You Utah”.
Hayward spurned his now former NBA team as well as the Miami Heat to commit to the Celtics and Stevens, who coached him at Butler University.
“And that unfinished business we had together, back in 2010, when I left Butler for the NBA,” Hayward wrote of Stevens, who has been with the Celtics since the 2013-14 season. “As far as I’m concerned, all of these years later, we still have it: And that’s to win a championship.”
Hayward averaged 21.9 points per game last season and played in his first all-star game.
Hayward said he felt a need to address speculation that he was in fact making a switch to Boston.
“This has been the toughest decision that I’ve ever had to make in my life. This weekend has probably been the longest weekend of my life. And today … well, today has definitely been one of the craziest days of my life,” he wrote.
BACKSTORY: Hayward starting his free-agent tour as West gets tougher
“What’s crazy is — before I even had a chance to make my decision, before I had a chance to sit down and write this, and before I even had a chance to talk about it with the people I love — I was already reading reports about where I was going.”
This the second year in a row the Celtics have landed a big-time free agent. Last year they signed Al Horford.