Hayward's third season with the Celtics saw him bounce back statistically while playing in 52 of 72 games during the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 campaign. He posted 17.5 points per contest -- a full six points better than the year before -- along with a career-high 6.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.1 combined steals/blocks. It was a banner year for Hayward's shot, as he buried a career-high 50 percent of his field goals and 85.5 percent of his free-throw attempts. Hayward got off to a red-hot start, putting up 18.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 4.1 dimes and 1.6 three-pointers over Boston's first eight games before a broken hand cost him a month of action. That streak included a career-high-tying 39-point outburst on Nov. 5 against Cleveland, to which he added eight assists and seven rebounds. Hayward collected eight double-doubles, including dropping 22 points with a season-high 14 boards against Orlando on Jan. 24. He didn't miss a beat when the season resumed in the Orlando bubble, averaging 18.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists over the seven seeding games. However, an ankle sprain in Boston's first playoff game knocked him out for much of the postseason. Hayward returned for the final four games of the Celtics' Eastern Conference Finals versus Miami, playing 30-plus minutes off the bench in each game.

After missing essentially all of the 2017-18 season to a gruesome injury, Hayward returned to play 72 games for the Celtics in 2018-19. After he started the first 15 games of the season, it became clear that Hayward still needed time to return to his pre-injury form. Coach Brad Stevens thus moved Marcus Morris and Marcus Smart into the starting lineup, with Hayward and Jaylen Brown shifting to the bench. Hayward went on to start only three more games on the season, but he still found ways to generate a spark off the bench. The veteran posted six games of 20-plus points, all as a reserve. On Dec. 1 against Minnesota, he came close to a triple-double, netting 30 points with nine rebounds and eight assists in 29:46 off the bench. A month and a day later, he scorched the Timberwolves again, this time for a season-high 35 points on 14-of-18 shooting. Hayward scored 30 off the bench again on Mar. 5 against the Warriors. He also netted a pair of double-doubles. All told, he averaged 11.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 46.6 percent from the field and 83.4 percent from the line. Those numbers spiked at the end of the year, with Hayward averaging 16.4 points and 6.0 rebounds over his last 10 games. He remained in a sixth-man role for the playoffs, averaging 9.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game over the course of the Celtics' two-round postseason run. Hayward's finest performance of the playoffs came in Game 4 of the first round against the Pacers, when he scored 20 points to help his club secure a series sweep.

After seven seasons for the Jazz, Hayward signed a four-year, $128 million contract with the Celtics over the summer, but his first season in Boston lasted less than six minutes. In the first quarter of the Celtics' season opener against Cleveland, he broke his leg and dislocated his ankle in a gruesome fall, resulting in two surgeries that cost him the entire remainder of the 2017-18 campaign. After Gordon ran to the hoop along the baseline and leapt in an attempt to slam home an alley-oop pass from Kyrie Irving, he landed awkwardly, forcing his left leg to collapse underneath his 226-pound frame. Surgery occurred first in October, followed by a second procedure in March. He'll look to come back healthy for the Celtics next year.

Already one of the league's better scorers, Hayward found a new gear offensively in 2016-17. With a career-high 21.9 points per game across 73 contests, he ranked 26th in the NBA in scoring and made his first All-Star team. The Butler product rounded out his line with a career-best 5.4 rebounds as well as 3.5 assists and 1.0 steals per game. Hayward shot 47.1 percent from the field, his best mark since his rookie year, thanks in part to an excellent 39.8 percent from downtown. A prolific free-throw shooter, he raised his percentage from the line to 84.4. Even with the short time he missed at the beginning of the year with a finger injury, Hayward hit 362 free throws, the 12th-most in the league. He didn't skip a beat in his return from the injury, making his season debut Nov. 6 with 28 points against the Knicks and proceeding to score 20 or more points in five straight games. Hayward did so 47 times in all, and he had 13 games with at least 30 points. He was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week on Jan. 16. On Mar. 20, he set a new career high with 38 points against the Pacers; less than three weeks later, he eclipsed that mark with 39 against Minnesota. Back in the playoffs for the first time since his sophomore campaign, he exceeded those two high-flying performances with a 40-point effort in Game 3 of Utah's first-round win over the Clippers. He also scored 31 points in Game 6 of that series and 33 in Game 2 of the Jazz's second-round sweep at the hands of Golden State. In total, Hayward averaged 24.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in the playoffs.

Hayward turned in another season of well-rounded production in 2015-16, his sixth in the league. He appeared in a career-high 80 games (all starts) and played the second-most minutes in the NBA, behind only James Harden. The Butler product maintained his scoring bump from the season before and even added to it, leading the Jazz with 19.7 points per game while adding 5.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.2 steals per contest. Always a dangerous long-range shooter, Hayward made a career-high 1.8 threes per game. He again did a lot of damage with free throws, getting to the line 6.0 times per game and hitting 82.4 percent of his attempts. Hayward's 393 makes from the charity stripe ranked 12th in the NBA. Hayward exceeded 20 points a whopping 43 times, clearing the 30-point threshold on three occasions. His two highest-scoring games came nine days apart. On Jan. 9, he dropped 34 points on the Heat. On Jan. 18, he scored a season-high 36 along with nine assists, five rebounds, two steals and a block against Charlotte. Hayward recorded four double-doubles, scoring 20-plus points in each of those games.

Hayward's scoring shot up again in 2014-15, his fifth NBA campaign and his second as a full-time starter. Over the course of 76 games, he blew away the previous season's career-high 16.2 points per game with 19.3 this time around. Hayward finished fifth in the league in successful free throws (375, and he hit them at an 81.2 percent clip) and 13th in total points scored (1,463). With improved shot selection, he bounced back to a 44.5 field-goal percentage while shooting 36.4 percent from downtown -- major improvements over his first year as a lineup staple. On Nov. 3, during a close road loss to the Clippers, the versatile forward hit a season-high five three pointers on his way to scoring 27 points. For the season, Hayward made a career-high 1.6 threes per game, and he added 4.9 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.4 steals. Hayward's biggest offensive explosion of the year came Nov. 14 against the Knicks, when he dropped 33 points alongside six assists and a career-high-tying four steals. The Butler product set a new career high with 15 rebounds against the Warriors on Jan. 30, complementing 26 points, six assists and three steals. That was one of 38 games in which he scored 20-plus points. Hayward cleared 30 points on seven occasions.

The 2013-14 campaign represented a turning point for Hayward, as he took on much more responsibility for the Jazz. Put simply, he capitalized. Over the course of 77 games (all starts), he averaged career highs in points (16.2), rebounds (5.1), assists (5.2) and steals (1.4) while playing 36.4 minutes per game. Largely a small forward to start his career, he played a lot more shooting guard this time around, and he received a lot more defensive attention with Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap no longer around to distract the opposition. He racked up 20 or more points on 22 occasions and reached the 30-point threshold thrice. On Dec. 13, he recorded 30 points along with a career-high 13 rebounds against Denver. But Hayward's greatest performance of the season -- and perhaps of his career -- came Jan. 7, when he scored 37 points on 13-of-16 shooting along with 11 rebounds, seven assists, two steals and a block against the Thunder. All in all, he double-doubled nine times during the regular season and came one dime away from a triple-double in three of those games.

After starting for most of his sophomore season, Hayward stepped into more of a sixth-man role in his third NBA campaign. He made 27 starts in 72 games for the Jazz, setting new career highs with 14.1 points and 1.4 threes per game. After dipping the year before, his three-point percentage rebounded to 41.5, good for 20th in the NBA. Hayward also provided secondary stats on both ends of the court, averaging 3.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists and a 1.3 combined steals/blocks. He scored in double figures 55 times, clearing the 20-point threshold in 11 different games. Hayward piled up a season-high 27 points on two occasions. The first time, Jan. 7 against the Mavericks, he rounded out his line with six boards, five assists, a steal and two blocks. On Mar. 20, he again scored 27, this time adding eight rebounds, two assists and one steal. Hayward went on to hit a career-high-tying five threes on Apr. 5 against New Orleans. Following the season, he received a third-place vote for Sixth Man of the Year.

Hayward saw a big boost in playing time and production over the course of the lockout-abbreviated 2011-12 campaign. He appeared in all 66 games for the Jazz, starting 58 of them and averaging 11.8 points per game -- more than double his rookie mark -- while adding 3.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists per contest. Hayward also chipped in on the defensive end, averaging 1.4 combined steals and blocks per game. He scored in double figures 41 times, and scored 20 or more points on 10 occasions. On Apr. 4 against the Suns, Hayward snagged a career-high 10 rebounds alongside 20 points for his first NBA double-double. A week later, he dropped a season-high 29 points on the Rockets, tying his season high with four 3-pointers. Hayward was selected to play in the Rising Stars Challenge at All-Star Weekend, scoring 14 points for Team Chuck. He received his first taste of playoff action as the Jazz lost to the Spurs in the first round. Hayward scored 17 points on just six field-goal attempts in Game 1 of that series aided by shooting 12-of-12 from the free throw line.

Drafted out of Butler by the Jazz with the ninth overall pick of the 2010 NBA Draft, Hayward suited up for 72 games (17 starts) in his rookie season. He averaged 5.4 points with 1.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists over 16.9 minutes per game. Though his opportunities were limited on Utah's veteran-laden roster, he made the most of them, shooting a steady 48.5 percent from the field and a remarkable 47.3 percent from 3-point range. His first extended opportunity in the lineup came Dec. 29 against the Clippers, when Hayward played 43:50 and tallied 17 points with six rebounds. He proceeded to score in double figures for the next two games, but Hayward's playing time remained sporadic for much of the season. Over the campaign's final weeks, the Jazz gave Hayward a bigger role, and his production shot up accordingly. Over the season's last 10 games, he averaged 14.6 points on 57.1 percent shooting along with 2.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists. That included his biggest game of the campaign, a 34-point outburst -- including 5-for-6 from beyond the arc -- on the last day of the regular season, Apr. 13 against Denver.