34-year-old Gordon Hayward announced his retirement.
Gordon Hayward played for the Jazz, Celtics, Hornets and OKC teams in his 14-year career in the NBA.
I remember he had his best seasons with the Utah Jazz. After the Utah Jazz, his career started to decline.
He felt he wasn't valued anymore. He played with the OKC but was not used. Things really changed after the injury for him; it was huge and affected his role. I see him in a similar situation with Deron Williams, who was also one of the best players for the Jazz before he got injured and traded, and after that, his career started to decline. So those players who have the skills have to be careful, as injury is a hard battle to win. Only a few win against it; to name one, it's PG, who recently secured a huge contract with the 76ers.
He was benched by OKC during his stint last season. But we can't blame the coach, they have a lot of young and athletic players and the only thing that Gordon can offer in his experience although as you can see, he become gun shy as well. Not sure if this is due to his body declining through the years of injury or he doesn't have it anymore in him. Sometimes we see players who have been mentally affected by injuries that he had. But as you have said, PG or Klay Thompson or even KD had injuries that take seasons to recover. And they are still playing, so it's more of the psychology of not playing or contributing in a team that could have hurried Gordon's decision to retire after 14 years in NBA.