Oklahoma City Thunder: Paul George reached out to Gordon Hayward following injury
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Paul George reached out to his former Team USA team member, Gordon Hayward, following a gruesome injury of his own.
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Paul George has overcome a lot during his time in the NBA. Arguably the most difficult thing he had to overcome was a gruesome knee injury suffered while playing with Team USA in 2014.
George suffered a compound fracture in his right leg as he landed awkwardly against the basket stanchion while chasing down James Harden in a scrimmage. George put in work for his rehab, as he actually returned to play in six games during the 2014-15 season.
The Boston Celtics are now in a similar position that the Indiana Pacers were that season. The Celtics signed Gordon Hayward to a massive free agent contract this past summer. Five minutes into his Celtics career, Hayward suffered a serious leg injury of his own.
Hayward suffered a dislocated ankle and broken tibia in an awkward fall. It was a scary sight as both training staffs looked at Hayward and eventually carted him off the court.
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It is not something that many people experience in their lives. An injury to that extent isn’t one that is easy to come back from. George knows that, and it was recently revealed that he reached out to Hayward shortly after his incident.
Hayward and George are good friends from their time with together with Team USA. According to Bleacher Report‘s Tom Haberstroh, George reached out to Hayward that night, sending a text. The two eventually talked on the phone as well.
"George’s message: It’s OK to feel down.“With the nature of the injury, there’s going to be rough days and good days,” George says. “Some days, I felt really good and I felt like I was ready to turn that corner. And then right after that, next day, I felt like I was back at square one. There was pain in the leg again. It was hard to walk, hard to move. It felt like I wasn’t progressing like the previous day. That was the rough patch mentally.”"
The two have been communicating since the injury occurred. For a while, Hayward couldn’t bring himself to watch games as it hurt too much to not be out there. However, Hayward has been able to watch George some from afar.
Oklahoma City Thunder
While athletes are viewed as superhuman by some, at the end of the day they are regular people as well. George admitted that doubt would creep into his head sometimes, so he would watch clips of himself from before the injury.
That was part of George’s process of accepting what had happened and letting go, something he told Haberstroh is half the battle of recovery.
"“The toughest part about it and what people don’t understand is you have an expectation of where you’ve been and the level you’ve played at your whole career,” George says. “And you want to get back to that so fast, but you’ve got to be mindful that you’re coming back to a new league. New players. Different teams. Different schemes. It’s a whole different game he’s coming back to.”"
For Hayward, that last part goes double. Hayward spent the first seven seasons of his career with the Utah Jazz before signing with the Celtics in free agency. While Hayward played for Celtics’ head coach Brad Stevens in college at Butler, there will be plenty of things that he needs to learn in Boston.
It will be a long process for Hayward to get back. Getting over the mental hurdles will not be easy. There will be some doubt as Hayward will have to adjust some things. It is something George says people don’t always understand, but nonetheless, something Hayward will have to deal with.
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Despite suffering that horrible injury, George has returned to the court and looks good. Hopefully, Hayward is able to do the same and make an impact once he’s back on the court.