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LIFE COMES AT YOU FAST — Gordon Hayward was part of some of the more memorable moments in recent Jazz history. Some of those were by his own choosing (a certain July 4, 2017, comes to mind); others he was simply along for the ride.
Like in his rookie year when his head coach suddenly resigned.
Earlier this month, Hayward joined the Podcast P with Paul George podcast to discuss some of those times, including his view of the infamous night when Jerry Sloan coached his final game after a feud with Deron Williams.
"We were playing Chicago at home, and I don't remember what exactly happened in the first half but it set off coach Sloan," Hayward said. "We come in during halftime and normally he comes in and he like says something a little bit to the team before meeting with the coaches and coming back, and he just stormed right through the locker room."
The franchise player and longtime head coach gone within a week.
— Podcast P with Paul George (@PodcastPShow) January 4, 2024
Gordon Hayward was introduced to the business side of the NBA real quick his rookie year 😳 pic.twitter.com/FUvbyVTUks
"Then D-Will came storming through the locker room right after him and followed him around the corner. And then the owner came through. 'Yo, something's going down,' and they went around the corner but you can still hear like the yelling back and forth. Then coach Sloan came out and walked straight back onto the court — didn't say a single word the rest of the game. Like, during timeouts, during anything, he'd just sit there. I don't remember if we won or lost, surely we would have lost that game."
Sidenote: The Jazz did lose.
"Didn't say anything to the team after the game," he continued. "Next day. We got text messages like 'no practice tomorrow.' Then it was like coach Sloan resigned. That was it, and then Ty (Corbin) took over and a week later D-Will was traded. And it was like if there were two people I thought would never. ... Coach Sloan had been there for 27 years, D-Will was our All-Star point guard, face of the franchise — both gone wiithin a week."
It was a quick welcome to the business life of the NBA, but there were positives for Hayward. He suddenly was getting minutes.
"I was loving it — loving it," Hayward said. "Yeah, I mean it couldn't have been better for me. I went from not playing at all to now I'm actually in the rotation a little bit."
