Stevens: Full recovery, but no timetable for Hayward return

By: The Associated Press/ABC6 News

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Twitter: @ABC6

BOSTON, Mass. (AP) — Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens says Gordon Hayward is expected to make a full recovery from the gruesome injury he sustained in the team’s opener.

They just don’t know how long it will take yet.

Stevens told reporters before the Celtics’ home opener against Milwaukee that Hayward has a dislocated ankle and broken tibia.

He is expected to have surgery soon, but it has not been scheduled yet. Stevens says he is not sure if Hayward will be able to return this season.

After playing his first seven years with the Utah Jazz, Hayward signed a four-year, $128 million, contract this offseason to rejoin Stevens, his college coach, in Boston. But he was injured in the sixth minute of the first game when he landed awkwardly under the basket in Cleveland.

Hayward sent words of support to his teammates before they stepped out on the court for the Celtics home opener.

The uplifting message was full of positivity and it played on the jumbo-tron for everyone to see at the TD Garden.

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