At the end of June, Gordon Hayward provided an exciting update regarding his ankle rehabilitation on his personal website.
“I think at the recovery pace I’m currently on, I’ll probably start running again in July,” he explained.
“Once I get started, I’ll be jogging, then running, and then cutting and moving, and all that could happen within one to two weeks of each other, to where by the end of July I am playing full court, five-on-five basketball. And that’s probably the most exciting thing I could tell all of you," he added.
Since the end of July is approaching, Hayward is getting closer and closer to returning to the practice court with his teammates.
To show his progress, he posted a video to his Instagram account on Saturday.
Judging by his movements on the court, it seems as though his ankle is healing magnificently.
The latest update
The video features him working out with NBA skills coach Drew Hanlen. In the Instagram post, Hayward shows himself dribbling, shooting and moving fluidly, almost as if he didn’t suffer an injury at all. Check it out:
Since his injury was so gruesome, Hayward’s mental comeback might be even more important than his physical one.
“I dunked the basketball for the first time off my left foot — without pain — last week,” he said on Thursday, per Nicole Yang of Boston.com. “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.”
He admitted that he’s still nervous to make a few moves on the ankle.
“Leading up to doing something new, I think I’m anxious and nervous a little bit, and, subconsciously, I think a little scared,” he admitted. “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.”
It remains to be seen if Hayward will return to the All-Star he was before suffering the injury. If he can get past the mental aspect, there’s no reason not to believe in him, judging by his latest video update.