Boston Celtics forward Gordon Hayward will travel to Orlando and enter the NBA “bubble” with his teammates this month, but is prepared to leave Orlando when his wife, Robyn, gives birth to their fourth child. . Robyn will appear in September, which would be right in the middle of the Boston playoffs.
“There will be a time if and when we are there and she is going to have the baby, I am sure I will be with her,” Hayward said on ESPN. “We will have to cross that bridge when we get there.”
The league would allow Hayward to break out of the bubble for the birth of his son, but doing so would lead to a prolonged absence of action on the court. Any player who leaves Orlando will have to test negative for COVID-19 every day they are out of Orlando, and then they will have to be quarantined for four days after returning. However, for Hayward, the decision to leave the team to be with his wife is an easy one.
“It’s a pretty easy decision for me about that,” said Hayward. “I’ve been to the birth of each of my children, and I think there are more important things in life. So we will cross that bridge when we get there … I know the NBA has a protocol for that guy and I hope he can put in quarantine and try the proper amount of time and then go back to the boys. “
For Hayward, the decision to leave his family for an extended period was difficult to start. However, the opportunity to pursue a championship with his teammates was something that he finally did not want to miss.
“I think for a lot of people in the NBA, a tough decision about leaving the family, especially if you have young children,” Hayward said. “This is a unique experience that is about to happen, because even though we are on the road a lot during the year, you have time to go home. Maybe a maximum of eight, nine, 10 days on the road before you are home. ” so being out for much longer is definitely going to be difficult. It will be difficult; No doubt about it.
“I think leaving the girls will be very difficult and it is sure to be a sad day for me. I think they are old enough to understand what is going on, and we have tried to explain to them that I will ‘be gone for a while. It is something what I think it is what it is. I think the chance to compete for a championship and play for a title is something that a lot of NBA players want to do. We want to go down there and continue the season and try to finish something in what we’ve worked on throughout the year. So I think there’s definitely a lot to think about. “
Boston would certainly miss Hayward if he left, especially in the midst of the team’s postseason campaign, but some things are really bigger than basketball. The Celtics are a pretty deep team, and have a lot of experience playing without Hayward, having missed 19 games during the regular season due to injury problems. So if it’s about that, you can trust that experience. They’ll just need everyone else, especially the other perimeter players like Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Semi Ojeleye, to step forward when Hayward is off the stage.
