NBA Free Agency 2017: One signing every team should make

Boston Celtics: Gordon Hayward

It didn’t take a great deal of brain-power to come up with Gordon Hayward as the top target for the Boston Celtics. He’s already opted out of his final year with the Utah Jazz, making him an unrestricted free agent. What’s more, he’s going to garner a ton of interest around the league. However, there’s no other team in the league that has Hayward in their future plans and as much stock in the wing as Danny Ainge and the Celtics.

From a basketball sense, Hayward is one of the pieces that the Celtics indubitably need to help take the next step. He’s the two-way wing with great versatility on both ends that can fill all the holes that they have. The soon-to-be former Jazz wing offers Boston the outside shooting at small forward that they’ve been lacking in a reliable way, in addition to still maintaining an overall level of playmaking. What’s more, Hayward will help to alleviate some of the pressure off of Isaiah Thomas in terms of how heavily the team relies on him offensively.

If that weren’t enough, there are the Butler ties between Hayward and Brad Stevens, which strengthen the case for the Celtics to land the wing. Though nothing in this league is certain until pen is put to paper, this feels almost like a foregone conclusion at this point. It would be a shock to see Hayward end up anywhere outside of Boston once 2017 free agency has subsided, which is great news for the Celtics.