The Utah Jazz will be without arguably their best player for approximately six weeks after forward Gordon Hayward dislocated and broke a finger on his left hand, Jody Gennesy of the Deseret News reported on Friday.
Bad news. Gordon Hayward suffered a dislocated and broken finger on his left hand. He’s expected to miss six weeks, according to sources.
— Jody Genessy (@DJJazzyJody) October 7, 2016
Gordon Hayward has been one of the most durable players in Jazz history. He’s played in 443 of 476 games (93.1%), which is 11th best.
— Jody Genessy (@DJJazzyJody) October 7, 2016
If Hayward is out the full six weeks, he will miss 13 regular season games. The Jazz have a pretty difficult schedule to begin with, too.
— Jody Genessy (@DJJazzyJody) October 7, 2016
Hayward, 26, averaged 19.7 points for the Jazz last season. He has been the team’s leading scorer the past three seasons.
Fortunately, the Jazz made the necessary additions in free agency to handle an injury like this. George Hill, Boris Diaw and Joe Johnson can pick up the slack until Hayward returns in November.
Last season, Hill averaged 12.1 points with Indiana, Johnson averaged 12.2 points with Brooklyn and Miami, and Diaw averaged 6.4 points off the bench for San Antonio. There’s a lot of experience in that trio, enough to get the Jazz through a tough situation.
