Gordon Hayward releases incredible rehab video after gruesome ankle injury
Gordon Hayward’s debut with the Boston Celtics came to a crashing halt six minutes into Opening Night, when the All-Star suffered a gruesome ankle injury.
Suddenly, the high-priced free agent was out for the season, and his career was seemingly in doubt.
Boston incredibly overcame losing its new star, and made it to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
With LeBron James moving to Los Angeles, the Celtics are the chic pick to get to the NBA Finals out of the East next year.
After seeing Hayward’s progress, Boston’s bandwagon will surely be getting a little more crowded.
Hayward underwent a second surgery in May to remove a plate and screws in his ankle, and recently posted a video, showing that he may just make it all the way back.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Blf2f4jn55C/?utm_source=ig_embed
Not shown is the 6-foot-8 forward doing something that was unthinkable after that first game in Cleveland.
“I dunked the basketball for the first time off my left foot — without pain — last week,” Hayward told the Boston Globe. “That felt awesome. I went into it very soft and gingerly, and after I did it, I was like, ‘OK, that didn’t hurt it all.’ I did it again, and it felt good.”
As we can see, the sharpshooter hasn’t lost anything on his touch.
In fact, his inability to run and jump for the first stage of his recovery let him focus on actually improving his accuracy.
“I spent so many days just shooting out of a chair, or so many days standing and shooting or doing mini-jumping and shooting because that’s all I could do,” he said. “I do think my shot’s got a little bit quicker. There will still be a little bit of the transition period for me, as I go from doing drills that are rehearsed to playing live. That’s just like a timing thing. I just have to play again for a little bit, but I really do think my shot has improved.”
Hayward told The Globe he’s able to “do a full sprint linearly,” and is getting stronger at making cuts on the court.
“Leading up to doing something new, I think I’m anxious and nervous a little bit, and, subconsciously, I think a little scared,” he said. “A lot of times when I do something new, I think I like to just protect [my ankle], and I don’t go as hard as I probably could. After I do something a couple times, my brain and my body kind of tells me, ‘OK, it’s fine. You can do this again.’ The bone is strong, everything is strong, and then it takes a little bit, but then it’s kind of normal.”
The second surgery to remove the hardware has helped him physically and mentally.
He wrote on his personal blog that his ankle is clean and ready to go.
“When you introduce foreign objects into your body, anything can happen at any time,” he wrote. “Sometimes your body rejects it or things happen; you get infections, and it could happen a year or years down the road. So it’s nice to know that I’m done with the plate and screws now, and that is not something I am going to have to worry about in the future.”
He won’t be worrying, but the rest of the Eastern Conference may want to start.
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