After battling adversities in his first two seasons with the Boston Celtics, Gordon Hayward finally looked like his old self at the beginning of the 2019-20 NBA regular season.

The one-time All-Star was a big reason for the Celtics' hot start to the season, as he averaged 17.5 points on 55.6 shooting from the field and 39.5 from three, to go along with 6.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists.

But bad luck just seems to follow the 29-year-old swingman, as he broke his fourth metacarpal in his left hand last November, keeping him out of commission initially for six weeks.

Hayward returned to action last week where he averaged 14 points in a three-game stretch. Just as he was getting comfortable again, Hayward was once again sidelined due to some nerve pain on his left foot. The 6-foot-7 forward admitted that his eagerness to play actually cost him from playing in Boston's last three matches.

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“It's been a long time, and something I'd been playing through,” Hayward said Tuesday, per ESPN's Tim Bontemps. “I could figure out a way to play through it, but it was progressively getting worse when I wouldn't play, so we tried to figure out solutions.

“For whatever reason we tried a solution that made it worse, and that's why I couldn't play.”

Hayward is listed as probable in the Celtics' Christmas Day match-up against defending champions Toronto Raptors on Wednesday at Scotiabank Arena.

After not missing much time during his days with the Utah Jazz, Hayward missed all but one game in the 2017-18 season after he broke his leg in a freak accident on opening night. He made a triumphant return last year but looked like a shell of his old self, as he struggled to find his place in head coach Brad Stevens' system.