The Utah Jazz have opted against doing a video tribute to Gordon Hayward during Friday night’s game against the Boston Celtics for a pretty good reason.
According to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, the Jazz only released a video tribute to Hayward on social media and are avoiding one during the game due to the negative fan reaction.
As I just reported on SportsCenter, the Jazz will not be doing a video tribute tonight to honor Gordon Hayward's return. The team opted instead to put out a video on social media this afternoon. If you wonder why that's all they did, just go look at the responses from fans…
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) November 9, 2018
Though Hayward was beloved by Utah, his departure is too fresh for the fans to celebrate him. Jazz fans thought he would re-sign with the team and were heartbroken when he chose to leave in free agency before last season. Some fans even burned his jersey.
This is one of those situations that requires more time before fans can celebrate Hayward. For now, they’re probably more inclined to boo him for leaving the team.
