Paul George has already spoken to Gordon Hayward about leg injury

The one name that constantly came to mind of many fans and players in the wake of Gordon Hayward's horrific leg injury was Paul George. The Thunder forward suffered a similar gruesome broken leg injury after colliding with the basket stanchion during a Team USA scrimmage in the summer of 2014. George missed 76 games of the 2014-15 season while experiencing a grueling recovery process from two compound fractures in his lower right leg.

George spoke to reporters in Oklahoma City on Wednesday about witnessing Hayward's injury and reaching out to the All-Star forward on Tuesday evening for support.

"It just brought me back to Vegas and what happened to me, my incident," George said. "Immediately I felt devastated. I was, like, nauseous watching it, just going back to that place. Immediately after it happened, I texted Gordon. We talked last night. I tried to give him words of encouragement and just be there for him."

George was also asked about the challenge that Hayward has waiting for him during the recovery process and whether the mental or physical aspect of that recovery is the toughest part.

"It's both man, it's both," he said. "Gordon has never dealt with something as bad as that, especially game one of the season. It's unfortunate. It's a little bit of everything. It's physical, it's mental. I'm sure emotionally he's in a certain state of mind. It's just bad timing for that. Honestly, it's hard to get over it. For me, it was just hard to see that."

The encouraging news for those making comparisons between the situations is just how well George was able to bounce back afterwards. The 6-foot-9 forward had a career year in his first full season back in 2015-16, averaging 23.1 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game.

Hayward and George have held a bond in recent years. That relationship should only strengthen in the coming months as Hayward turns to George for guidance and support during his recovery.

Kobe Bryant, an offseason workout partner for Hayward, also sent the All-Star an inspirational message on Wednesday

Be sad. Be mad. Be frustrated. Scream. Cry. Sulk. When you wake up you will think it was just a nightmare only to realize it’s all too real. You will be angry and wish for the day back, the game back THAT play back. But reality gives nothing back and nor should you. Time to move on and focus on doing everything in your power to prepare for surgery, ask all the questions to be sure you understand fully the procedure so that you may visualize it in your subconscious while being operated on and better the chance of it’s success. Then focus on the recovery process day by day by day. It’s a long journey but if you focus on the mini milestones along the way you will find beauty in the struggle of doing simple things that prior to this injury were taken for granted. This will also mean that when you return you will have a new perspective. You will be so appreciative of being able to stand, walk, run that you will train harder than you ever have. You see the belief within you grow with each mini milestone and you will come back a better player for it. Best of luck to you on this journey my brother #mambamentality always.

A post shared by Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) on Oct 18, 2017 at 8:38am PDT