The fallout between Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert and former teammate Gordon Hayward, now of the Boston Celtics, revolved around the communication (or lack thereof) between the two stars.
Gobert is still hurt by the way Hayward handled his move to Boston, first announcing it through a heartfelt piece on The Players' Tribune, but mostly not coming to tell his teammate of four years prior to making it public.
“We all know Gordon is a good player,” Gobert told FOX 13 Salt Lake City. “We all know it’s a business, and sometimes you have to make a tough decision.”
“For my part, it was only the fact that he didn’t really communicate with me. I tried to reach out to him before, just to have some informations. No matter what, I was going to respect his choice. He kind of ignored me. That’s the part I didn’t really like.”
The 7-foot-1 Frenchman noted he considered Hayward a close friend, but the respect wasn't reciprocated from the forward's end.
“I was kind of considering him as a brother,” said Gobert. “We played four years together, went through a lot. And I thought I was important enough to know. Looks like I wasn’t, but we’ve moved on.”
Gobert was visibly upset with Hayward after his decision, creating a mysterious cloud over their relationship.
Hayward suffered an unfortunate freak injury during his first five minutes in a Celtics uniform, ending his season. On the other hand, Gobert has flourished upon his return from injury, leading the Utah Jazz to a glorious 19-2 record in the past 21 games, now owners of the eighth spot in the West with a tiebreaker over the San Antonio Spurs.
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