Gordon Hayward keeps teasing us with his injury rehab

Hayward is now jogging without assistance. He might not return this season, but his progress is promising.

Gordon Hayward posted a video on Instagram of an open gym session with notable trainer Drew Hanlen on Saturday. The video, which displays Hayward’s deep arsenal of scoring moves, is a testament to how hard the Celtics’ All-Star forward has worked since his gruesome, season-ending ankle injury in the first game of the 2017-18 season.

The last time Hayward posted a video of his work, it was through The Player’s Tribune, tweeted a video of his first time running without assistance.

It was a short 30-second clip, but it was proof that Hayward was progressing from the dislocated ankle and fractured tibia he suffered in the season opener.

Hayward keeps teasing us, and it’s not fair

Hayward’s gruesome injury was broadcast on national TV, and it sucked the joy and happiness out of the air that had been created by the buzz and hoopla surrounding his first-ever unrestricted free agency last summer. Here was a hard-working, blue-collar forward out of Butler who made a name for himself in the small market of Utah. The signs were clear: He was going to leave the Jazz for the Celtics last summer. The world was just waiting for him to make it official.

Eventually he did just that, and after a few preseason games, we were ready to see the new Big 3 of Hayward, Kyrie Irving, and Al Horford wreck the East and legitimately challenge LeBron James and the Cavaliers as the best team in the conference. Then, Hayward snapped his ankle in the most gut-wrenching live TV injury since Shawn Livingston’s in 2007 (or Paul George’s during a 2014 Team USA scrimmage). His injury was only the first of many, many more this season.

Since Hayward’s fateful fall, he’s publicly shared his rehabilitation steps in getting back to the floor.

Dec. 10

Haywardtold The Boston Globe that while he was hopeful to return this season, he wanted to make sure he has a lot of good years of basketball left in the tank.

“It’s definitely in the back of my mind,” Hayward said to The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach about the idea of returning this season. “I’m definitely pushing to get back as fast as I can, while making sure that I still have a lot of good years of basketball in me. And coming back early and hurting something else is not part of that plan. So I’m making sure that if I come back, I’m 1,000 percent confident in myself and my leg. I hope more than anything I can play this season. That would be awesome. But that’s not something I’m stressing about. I’m stressing about what I can do today to help myself get better.”

Jan. 9

Celtics general manager Danny Ainge tweeted a photo of Hayward near a swimming pool without a knee brace.

Jan. 21

Robyn Hayward posted a video on Instagram of her husband shooting standstill set shots from the top of the key.

March 2

The Player’s Tribune posted a video of Hayward shooting jump shots for the first time. It also showed off a new set of ball handling skills we’re not accustomed to seeing from the all-star forward.

March 26

Hayward showed off his foot-eye coordination by using the foot he injured on opening night to place marbles in a bucket, one by one. The first time he’d tried this exercise, it took him four minutes. This time, it was 23.8 seconds — just before the shot clock expired.

Now, Hayward is jogging up and down the court unassisted. The next logical step in his running progression is being able to sprint up-and-down the floor, which will help him get back into basketball shape.

Hayward has teased us with his rehab all-season long. Nobody wants a star to go down with an injury as grisly as his, no matter what team you root for. It doesn’t look like Hayward will return for Boston’s playoff run this season, and the last thing he should do is rush back to defend the 6’8 275-pound demigod also known as King James III.

But Hayward has put in the work and made strides toward returning to the all-star we’ve known him to be. And once he returns to play alongside Irving, Horford, and the talented young core Boston is developing, the Celtics will be scarier than ever.