Gordon Hayward missed the Celtics’ Wednesday night win over the Dallas Mavericks due to a foot injury, but it appears he’s heading in the wrong direction.
The Boston forward has had pain in the foot for some time now, and after a lack of improvement, he missed his first game since returning from a broken left hand in Dallas. President of basketball operations Danny Ainge joined 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Toucher and Rich” Thursday morning and provided an update.
“He just has a toe/foot (injury). It’s right there where your toe connects with your foot,” Ainge said, per NBC Sports Boston. “But it’s just some pain, and we’re trying to figure out what it is. “He had a cortisone shot (Friday) hoping that that would make it better, but it actually made it worse. So, we’re trying to figure all that out. But nobody knows exactly what the issue is.”
That’s not what Celtics fans were looking to hear.
It sounds like there’s a lot of uncertainty around the injury, as Ainge added that Hayward isn’t sure when the problem began.
“He was doing a lot of work. Maybe he was doing too much work, even. I’m not sure,” Ainge added. “But again, I don’t know the answer to that. I don’t think Gordon knows exactly what caused it.”
Hayward is averaging 17.5 points and 6.1 rebounds on 55.6 percent shooting in 11 games this season.
The injury adds to Boston’s growing list of ailments, as Marcus Smart, Vincent Poirier and Robert Williams all currently are on the shelf.
