ESPN’s Zach Lowe is reporting the Boston Celtics and veteran forward Gordon Hayward are working together to petition the league to extend his decision date until 5pm Thursday afternoon.
Hayward, who has until this Tuesday, November 17th at 5pm to decide based on the schedule agreed upon by the league and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) on a $34.2 million player option, would normally decide after the NBA draft.
However, due to the chaos in the league calendar created by the pandemic and subsequent hiatus and the language in his contract (per Yahoo Sports’ Keith Smith), the Butler product’s deal has an earlier decision date.
Gordon Hayward and the Celtics are working to extend the deadline on Hayward to decide on his $34.2 million player option for the 2020-21 season from today at 5 p.m. to Thursday afternoon, league sources tell ESPN.
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) November 17, 2020
This puts Hayward at a disadvantage, and may not mesh well with Boston or his plans for the postseason — or could be a condition of his deciding to stay.
At present, the reasoning is still unknown, but we will update as this developing story becomes clearer.
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