"Gordon Hayward's wife Robyn is known to speak out, especially when he comes to matters concerning her husband. She recently took aim at Sam Presti, after the
Oklahoma City Thunder general manger shouldered the blame for signing off on the trade for Hayward.
"I missed on that,"
Presti said, via ESPN. "That’s on me. But I’m learning, I’m trying to learn this team, I’m trying to learn the pace of the team a little bit. And trying to be a great observer of the team as it’s going through its paces, knowing that it’s really going to change on its own in and of itself."
Tre Mann, Vasilije Micic, David Bertans and future draft picks were sent to the
Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Hayward in February. Hayward averaged 14.5 points per game over his 25 appearances with the Hornets.
Robyn fired back at Presti by responding to a social media post that highlighted Presti's comments. "Why trade for someone and not play them? … missed it by not integrating him," she wrote.
Hayward's production declined when he arrived in Oklahoma City, with the one-time
NBA All-Star averaging just 5.3 points per game. Hayward's playing time also dipped considerably as he was on the basketball court for an average of 17.2 minutes in his 26-game stint with the Thunder.
Hayward's playing time was also limited in
the playoffs, where he only managed three shot attempts.
Gordon previously expressed his frustration with his brief stint with Oklahoma City.
"I feel as a player, I have a lot to offer," Gordon said, according to ESPN. "Just wasn’t really given much of an opportunity to do that. I thought I would be given that opportunity."
During the 2022-23 season, Hayward suffered a shoulder fracture. Before a November 2022 game against the Timberwolves, the Hornets announced that he would miss the contest due to a shoulder contusion.
However, Robyn took issue with how the Hornets described the injury.
A shoulder contusion is less severe than a shoulder fracture, and
Robyn took to social media to share her displeasure with the discrepancy.
"He actually has a fractured scapula … that they had him play with last game … that’s why he couldn’t move his arm up in the last game," she wrote on Instagram.
She later added, "I’m gonna stop here and not get into prior things," before continuing on a subsequent Instagram story.
She then concluded, "I’m over them not protecting players. Just was talking with a young player’s mom, and she was saying the same thing…"
