As NBA Playoffs near, OKC Thunder's Gordon Hayward still adjusting to new role

Mark Daigneault wouldn't explicitly say it. Gordon Hayward, now a member of the Thunder, wouldn't explicitly say it. But when the team traded for the 14-year veteran, there seemed to be an expectation that he'd be part of its playoff rotation. 

He’d been a proven reserve wing, capable of spot scoring and some secondary creation. A player that's seen enough walks of NBA life to leave his mark on a group of rugrats, yet not so old that he couldn’t continue to walk with the young Thunder. 

And upon arrival, he was thrust into the top eight of the Thunder’s rotation.

Perhaps some of that was to shake the rust off. Prior to the deadline, Hayward hadn’t played for Charlotte since Dec. 28. Perhaps some of it, despite talks of slowly easing Hayward in the way midseason acquisitions are meant to be handled, was to prepare him for what was to come. 

Asked what his role might be the week he landed in Oklahoma City, Hayward simply said “to help us win.” Now, after 23 games, Hayward is staring down a fair sample size to evaluate his impact. In it, he’s stared down a new reality. 

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During that span, Hayward has averaged 4.5 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, shooting 39.8% from the field and 52% from 3 on just 1.1 attempts. For reference, his average 3-point attempts rank last on the team among players averaging at least 10 minutes — a surprise for those who figured Hayward would spend more time catching-and-shooting. Aaron Wiggins averages the next-highest attempts at 1.5, though Hayward has averaged 1.2 more minutes than Wiggins during his time with OKC. 

It’s been a bleak stretch. One that began with Hayward stringing startling air balls together, with movement that looked unfamiliar, attributed to rust and adjustment. Hayward joined a bullet train. That car was barreling toward its destination with or without him. This version of him, a role that’s seen him play a career-low in minutes, has begged the question of whether he’s fit for the Thunder’s postseason rotation.

“Just trying to do what I can with the opportunities that I’ve been given,” Hayward told The Oklahoman last week. “I try to go out there and play hard when I’m out there. Try not to judge based on anything else.” 

Hayward — once an All-Star, then a presumed final piece, then a productive veteran for a youthful wasteland with little direction — is averaging 16.5 minutes. His next-lowest average came during his rookie season with the Jazz, when he averaged 16.9 minutes.

The veteran is wise enough to recognize that, at this stage, he probably wouldn’t absorb the workload he’d known at his previous stops. So self-aware to think that those minutes would nearly be cut in half? Maybe not. But capable of acknowledging the Thunder’s path to the West’s first seed and a possible postseason run, which didn’t require past versions of him. 

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It only required that player in spurts. Some pull-up shooting; Acting on catch-and-shoot opportunities; Being the secondary creator that could occasionally bail out a dead possession or operate a necessary pick-and-roll. But knowing when to assert himself, when to seize those windows, has seemingly been as difficult as it’s ever been for him. 

It’s visible in his decisions. Hayward, especially early, has moved so as to not cut into the offensive cake that star on-ball creators such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams have baked. It’s meant avoiding the triangle solo while next to a pair that plays the strings of the game like Jimi Hendrix. Perfecting the delivery of his 15-second cameo in scenes dominated by Hollywood’s finest. 

Hayward has played with stars before. But inside this offense, mostly centered around the advantages SGA and Williams create, Hayward has struggled to decisively seize the opportunities when they swing his way. Outside of a notable multi-game stretch of playmaking and his shooting gravity, Hayward’s impact has been restricted by those decisions. 

But the Thunder’s couple of creative co-stars were both sidelined this past week with injury. A back-to-back without the two felt like a prime opportunity for Hayward to display the level of pop viewers have hoped for. Yet even then, Hayward sunk into the role he’s played. 

He hoisted contested pull-up jumpers, unable to generate the burst and separation he once could. Defensively, despite moments where he’s done his job as a team defender, his lineups can often lose their minutes quickly. 

In the seven games leading up to OKC’s loss in Indiana on Friday, Hayward was a combined minus-70. 

Hayward admittedly hasn’t thought about what the best version of himself looks like at this stage. Does he think the player he’s been for OKC is the same player he was in Charlotte before the deadline? 

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“No, no it’s not,” Hayward said. “I’m in a different role. I was playing 30 minutes a night in Charlotte. I’m playing, like, 12 or whatever. It’s a little different.” 

Each party had eyed the hourglass. Daigneault, asked upon Hayward’s arrival if the rest of the regular season was a sufficient time to get acclimated, was quick to underscore that a third of the season remained. 

That’s shrunk to four games — a blur of a period that makes anything Hayward hasn’t already consistently shown unlikely to surface before his minutes weigh even heavier. 

“Obviously would be probably better if I was here at the beginning of the year with everybody,” Hayward said. “Every team across the league will tell you that midseason trades are difficult to get everybody adjusted to everybody. Gotta work with what you’re given.”

Now OKC floats dangerously close to playoff waters. Close enough for Hayward’s shortcomings to feel like an inability — whether through time allotted post deadline or Father Time — to sprout inside this unfamiliar role. 

Should the Thunder remain hopeful that even the Charlotte version of Hayward is buried beneath what it’s seen, games away from thriving in his minutes? Does that player still exist? 

“I would like to believe so,” Hayward said. “It’s hard to say.”