Former Utah Jazz star Gordon Hayward suffers gruesome leg injury in season opener

Former Utah Jazz All-Star Gordon Hayward suffered a gruesome left leg injury in his Boston Celtics debut on Tuesday night.

NBA opening night got off to a disappointing start as mere minutes into the first game of the 2017-18 season between the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers, former Utah Jazz All-Star and current Celtic Gordon Hayward went down with what appeared to be a severe leg injury.

Shortly after logging his first pair of points as a Celtic, Hayward went up to catch an alley-oop lob from new teammate Kyrie Irving, which quite frankly was poorly thrown, and after some minimal contact from LeBron James and Jae Crowder, he landed awkwardly, causing a gruesome injury as his left ankle was pinned underneath his body weight during the fall.

You can check out the video of what happened below, but seriously, be warned, it isn’t for the faint of heart…

The fact that you could even hear the injury as it happened is quite the indication of the severity of it, then the immediate player reaction says a lot as well. This was a brutal, brutal injury. Kevin Harlan’s exuberant and repeated announcement that “Gordon Hayward has broken his leg” makes the whole thing all the more horrifying.

Of course, we’re still waiting for a final verdict on the severity of the injury, but it was reported on TNT that he suffered a left ankle fracture and there’s simply no questioning that the extent of the damage is likely worse than that. And while it’s hard to picture there being any bright side to this, hopefully some way, somehow, this won’t be as bad as it appeared.

Despite any feelings of animosity that Utah Jazz fans might have felt towards Hayward after he opted to spurn the team that drafted him and join the Celtics, this isn’t something that anyone wants to see happen and is without a doubt a horrific turn of events. Instantly after the injury took place, several of Hayward’s former teammates along with many others across the NBA took to social media to give their condolences and wish him well.

Those above only scratch the surface. But perhaps the most compelling well-wishes he received were from Paul George, who suffered an eerily similar injury just a few seasons back:

https://twitter.com/Yg_Trece/status/920443577590800386

Since suffering his injury, George has been able to make a return not only to NBA action, but to stardom. Hopefully Gordon Hayward, who was just beginning to show his true basketball talent, will be able to do the same.

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Be sure to stay tuned to TheJNotes.com for further updates on the former Jazz star.