While the country eagerly awaits the return of the NBA at the end of the month, seeing players traveling down to Orlando, Fla. with their teams is pretty exciting.
But for those players and their families, it’s bittersweet.
After all, those participating in the league’s return will be without their loved ones for what could be months as NBA players aren’t able to have guests join them until after the first round of the playoffs. It’s a difficult sacrifice to make, especially for players with a wife and kids.
Gordon Hayward’s wife, Robyn, for example, is expecting their fourth child. (Hayward plans to leave the NBA bubble when she goes into labor.)
So on Wednesday, Robyn took to Instagram to express how much the family will miss the Celtics forward while he’s away.
“Lots and lots of tears today,” Robyn wrote in her caption. “We knew NBA means lots of travel, but not for months at a time. We’re so grateful for the time we’ve had together but in a way that makes it harder especially for the girls. They’ve got to do so many things together throughout this time which has been so neat to watch. They are so in love with their dad he’s the ultimate playmate and tends to break my “rules” haha so he’s obviously the fun parent. He stays with them until they fall asleep at night every night, so lots of changes happening. Next time we see Gordon we’ll have our baby boy! We miss you so much and are almost done crying, but we love you and we’re so excited to watch you play! ?”
Making the decision to leave home and play couldn’t have been easy on these guys.