Gordon Hayward was set to sign with the Miami Heat in 2017

Gordon Hayward ultimately chose the rival Boston Celtics over a chance to play in South Florida.

The entire NBA landscape looked vastly different back in 2017. For starters, LeBron James was still on the Cleveland Cavaliers, along with Kevin Durant torching the league with Steph Curry in Golden State. It was also a time where the marquee free agent of the summer was Utah Jazz star, Gordon Hayward.

Prior to that summer’s offseason, Hayward was coming off earning the Most Improved Player of the Year award and his first All-Star selection. He averaged a career-high 21.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists 47/40/84 shooting splits. Being only 26 years old and going into his age-27 season set Hayward up to be highly coveted during free agency.

The Miami Heat indeed had interest, along with several others. But the Jazz wingman narrowed his decision to three teams; Utah, Miami and the Boston Celtics. The Heat were looking to find their next star perimeter player following the free agent departures from LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, respectively.

Hayward was pretty intrigued with Miami’s pitch, even revealing on the ‘Dan Le Batard Show’ recently that he was set on joining the Heat.

“I remember vividly telling my agent after each meeting, like I started with Miami, and I’m like, ‘I want to go to Miami. We don’t even need to do the other meetings.’ Miami is the place I want to be, and he kind of was like, ‘Well, we got to hear everyone out.’ The Heat have always been a first-class organization, so I was really, really close to signing there. I feel like Spo is one of the best coaches in the league, and obviously, Pat Riley is legendary in his own right. I was very close. Also, my brother-in-law lives in Miami. My wife would have loved living there and the beach and everything, but ultimately decided to go to Boston.” – Gordon Hayward

A Heat/Hayward pairing would have potentially changed the course of history. Maybe Hayward doesn’t suffer his career-altering leg injury had he joined the Heat instead of the Celtics on opening night? It could have also impacted Miami’s overall timeline as a franchise.

They may have been able to be a stronger team in those pre-Jimmy Butler years to set them up for a championship once Butler arrived. Imagine a healthy, prime All-Star duo of Hayward/Butler on the perimeter with a rising Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro still in the mix. Even going further back, the Heat were selling Hayward at the time with a trio of himself, Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside.

Instead, he mentioned on the podcast that he was sold on the vision of playing for his old college coach, Brad Stevens, with the Celtics. Ironically, the furthest he was able to go with Boston was the Eastern Conference finals, including losing to Miami in 2020.

Hayward recently announced his retirement from the NBA, ending his career after 15 seasons. He played for the Jazz, Celtics, Charlotte Hornets throughout his time in the league, including a very brief final stint with the OKC Thunder this past season. He would finish with career-stats of 15.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists after an up and down tenure in the league, mostly due to injuries.

There are always so many what ifs in the game of basketball that could have changed the trajectory of certain storylines. Hayward’s 2017 decision is one of them, but he ultimately decided to burn the Heat.