Brad Stevens on Gordon Hayward: We expect him to make a full recovery

Brad Stevens is still not sure when Gordon Hayward will undergo surgery on his dislocated left ankle and fractured tibia, but the head coach, speaking before Wednesday's game against the Bucks, emphasized the team expects the All-Star forward to make a full recovery.

"He went through a myriad of tests this morning, confirmed what we reported yesterday with the dislocated ankle and the fractured tibia," Stevens said. "He is in the midst of discussing next steps, which will include surgery very soon but it’s not set -- there’s no time set, they haven’t finalized that yet. That’s the update."

"This is a setback," Stevens added. "We're expecting a full recovery and we know there are going to be a lot of tough days ahead on that recovery but, at the same time, hopefully, he'll improve day-to-day, but it's been tough. It's been tough for him."

As far as a recovery timetable goes, the team isn't willing to put a set number on it for the moment.

"We don’t know that stuff yet," Stevens said. "I’m not going to speculate nor put a timeline on it. I think after they finalize the surgery date, decide that, then they go in there and really evaluate it, once they do the surgery."

Stevens also reflected on his connection to Hayward from a personal standpoint and how that has impacted his mindset over the last 24 hours.

"I think you care about everybody obviously and you want to make sure that everybody knows that you care about them," Stevens said. "There's no doubt, having known him as long as I've known him, it's really tough to see him go through this, but he's got a great support network. His wife is great, he's got two great little girls that will bring smiles to his faces regardless of how he feels. His parents are here. We'll make sure that he knows that we've got our arms around him."

Countless players including Paul George and Kobe Bryant have already reached out to Hayward to express their support for the All-Star after suffering such a gruesome injury. Stevens visited with Hayward at New England Baptist Hospital on Wednesday and expressed appreciation for that outreach.

"It’s helped his spirits quite a bit," he said. "I’m sure all of you have shared text messages with your friends. People were texting all of us and certainly, he’s heard from a ton of people both directly and indirectly. And he’s appreciative of that. I thought both teams yesterday were obviously affected by that. I thought the Cavs organization was top notch in taking care of him of while we were there. We all appreciated that. And obviously, their players and our players were concerned about him. He’ll continue to need that support as he goes through this. But, again, we’re expecting this to be a full recovery, no timeline on it, but full recovery."

You can watch full video of Stevens' remarks below: