The Boston Celtics are Utah Jazz don’t have a lot in common, but there is one honor both of them now share: Having Gordon Hayward ditch their teams in free agency.
And, more particularly, having Gordon Hayward bolt because of a player option on the final year of his deal.
So it was a bit odd to learn this week that the two Hayward Homies had seemingly not learned from previous mishaps, when contract extensions rolled out for Jayson Tatum and Donovan Mitchell that included an option year.
It was even more odd when we look ahead to 2021 free agency, where the two best free agents likely will be Giannis Antetokoumnpo and Rudy Gobert. No, they don’t have player options, but they shouldn’t be free agents this soon. We’ll get more into their situations in a minute.
Let’s start at the top. In small markets one rule comes above all: You retain the rights to your best players for as long as you can. Everything else is…
