By Stefan Djordjevic / info@eurohoops.net
Free agent Gordon Hayward is signing a four-year deal worth $120M with the Charlotte Hornets, according to Adrian Wojnarowski.
In order to create cap space for the deal, the Hornets will waive Nicolas Batum who exercised his $27.13M player option earlier this week.
The 31-year-old French forward has been with the team since 2015 but his run was made harder by numerous injuries. Last season, he played a total of 22 games.
Hayward signed an offer sheet with Charlotte in 2014 as a restricted free agent. Utah matched and kept him. This time, Charlotte gets Hayward.
The Celtics have lost two max contract players in free agency in the past two years – Kyrie Irving and Hayward.
The one-time All-Star spent seven years in Utah as well as the past three years in Boston. He suffered a nasty season-ending injury in 2017 and recovered in time for the following season.
He averaged 17.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists over 54 regular-season games in the 2019-20 campaign.