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Gordon Hayward is making his first trip back to Utah to take on the Jazz since signing with the Boston Celtics in 2017. But the Jazz are downplaying the return.
“People do what they want,” Gobert told Eric Woodyard of the Deseret News. “I hope he’s happy. We’re happy here and we’re just going to play basketball.”
Gobert isn't the only member of the Jazz to preach the idea that this is just another game on the schedule. Derrick Favors thinks the fans will bring the same energy they do every night.
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“It’s going to be just like any other game. The fans come out, they support in sold out games so it’s just going to be another game for us.”
The fans will likely give Hayward a rude reception, but there might not be the normal vitriol for a player returning to a place who spurned in free agency.
First off, Hayward's leg injury was devastating and no one — even the most diehard of Jazz fans — wanted to see him injured last season. Had he not suffered a season-ending injury, his reception in Utah would have been understandably cold.
But one year later and the Jazz look even better than they did with Hayward. In fact, the team reached the second round of the playoffs again despite losing their All-Star player. But Donovan Mitchell filled the void left by Hayward. Mitchell could be better than Hayward already and the Jazz are in a much better position financially with Mitchell's cost-effective rookie deal.
