Charlotte Hornets forward Gordon Hayward will be sidelined indefinitely with a fractured left shoulder.
Hayward’s agent, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports, confirmed the diagnosis on Friday with ESPN.
Hayward, 32, has missed nine of the Hornets’ first 20 games this season. He is averaging 16.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 11 starts.
The player’s wife posted on Instagram that the team had Hayward play through the injury in his most recent game on Wednesday against the Philadelphia 76ers.
“He actually has a fractured scapula…. That they had him play with last game… that’s why he couldn’t move his arm up in the last game…..everyone who knows Gordon knows he has one goal and that’s to win and play the right way, he’s the most truthful player/person you’d find. If he’s not gonna play it’s for something more than a bruise….
“I’m gonna stop there and not get into prior things,” Robyn Hayward wrote.
She did not stop there, however.
“Just to clarify – since the team doesn’t say. It’s a fracture in the shoulder. Which is a broken bone. I’m over them not protecting players. Just was talking with a young players mom and she was saying the same thing….”
A first-round pick (ninth overall) by Utah in 2010 and an All-Star with the Jazz in 2016-17, Hayward has averaged 15.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 745 games (582 starts) with the Jazz, Boston Celtics (2017-20) and the Hornets.
–Field Level Media