Charlotte Hornets wing Gordon Hayward has suffered an avulsion fracture in his finger.
There are just some NBA players who cannot stay healthy, and for whatever reason, Gordon Hayward is one of those routinely snakebitten guys.
On Wednesday, the Charlotte Hornets announced their recent free-agency acquisition had sustained an avulsion fracture of his fifth metacarpal on his right hand. In layman’s terms, that’s a fracture in his right pinkie.
The injury occurred during Charlotte’s preseason game against the Toronto Raptors on Monday. According to the team, Hayward will miss the Hornets’ preseason game against the Orlando Magic on Thursday, and he will be listed as day-to-day moving forward.
So how long will Gordon Hayward be out this time?
While it’s encouraging Hayward will be listed as day-to-day, it might be a few weeks before we see him back on the court. An avulsion fracture occurs “when a tendon or ligament that is attached to the bone pulls a piece of the fractured bone off.” A simple Google search of “avulsion fracture” shows it may take eight weeks (or even longer) to heal from such an injury, depending on the area where the fracture occurs.
That would be the worst-case scenario for the Hornets, who just shelled out a four-year, $120 million deal to steal Hayward from the Boston Celtics in free agency.
Last season, the 30-year-old wing averaged 17.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game on .500/.383/.855 shooting splits in a bounce-back year, but he was once again banged up in the playoffs. This, of course, came after a lackluster 72-game season in 2018-19, which followed his brief appearance in 2017-18 that ended on opening night after a horrific ankle injury.
Hopefully this latest malady is as minor as the “day-to-day” designation suggests, but that label could very well just be a temporary diagnosis until more information can be gathered on what he’s dealing with.