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A22 SPORTS
Saturday 15 July 2017

Gordon Hayward signs 4-year,

maximum deal with Celtics

Floyd Mayweather Jr., front left, poses as Conor McGregor, right,
watches during a news conference at Barclays Center on Thurs-
day, July 13, 2017, in New York, for their junior middleweight
boxing bout next month.
Associated Press
Mayweather, McGregor

exchange profanities,

barbs in Brooklyn
In this May 9, 2017, file photo, then-Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward talks to the media during
By DAN GELSTON fur coat he bought earlier the NBA teams end of season press conference in Salt Lake City. Associated Press
AP Sports Writer in the day in a Fifth Avenue
NEW YORK (AP) — Floyd shopping spree. By JIMMY GOLEN championship game ap- nals, where they were elimi-
Mayweather Jr. tossed $1 He could afford the out- AP Sports Writer pearances in 2010. nated by Cleveland in five
bills in Conor McGregor’s landish outfit. McGregor BOSTON (AP) — Brad Ste- “It’s really an unbelievable games.
face. McGregor waved and Mayweather will earn vens was just a week or so thing to be sitting with a The Celtics also had the
Jay Z’s new CD in May- perhaps nine-figure pay- into his new job as Butler guy in your office when No. 1 overall pick in the
weather’s direction and days while fight fans will be head coach when Gordon he’s 16 or 17 years old, and draft, which they traded for
quoted a Biggie Smalls lyr- charged $100 to watch on Hayward was his first recruit to again be sitting with him the third pick — Duke for-
ic as some sort of warning TV in high def and can’t get to visit. when he’s 27,” Stevens ward Jayson Tatum — and
shot. into the arena for anything A decade later, they’ve said. The Celtics needed to another first-rounder, likely
The rest? less than a $500 face-value been reunited with the Bos- clear salary cap space to next year. “I feel like our
The fashionably late fighters ticket —if they’re lucky. ton Celtics. make room for Hayward, team is in a better position
treated fans who’d waited But in New York, where a There was an “immediate which they accomplished than last year,” Ainge said.
hours for the latest stop in a “Hamilton” seat can cost familiarity” when the Celt- by trading guard Avery Landing Hayward was not
promotional tour to about you a rent check, there’s ics pitched Hayward on Bradley to Detroit and then only a coup for the Celtics,
30 minutes of profanities, still a deal to be found — the team, he said in a con- waiving forward Jordan but for the Eastern Confer-
crude cracks about body even in the fight game. ference call with report- Mickey early Friday. “It’s ence as a whole. This sum-
parts, and, well, a steady The fight angling to be- ers Friday after signing his been a long 10 days, hasn’t mer has seen West teams
stream of even more f- come the richest in sports four-year deal worth about it?” Celtics basketball boss load up to try to defeat the
bombs. history is offering fans a $128 million. “It brought Danny Ainge said. Warriors, and the vast ma-
If Mayweather and Mc- bargain-basement price back memories of when I Stevens said his pitch to jority of high-profile roster
Gregor turned their latest for this weeklong smack- was being recruited in high Hayward, an All-Star last moves have occurred in
showdown into a true PPV talking circus: Free. It’s the school by Coach Brad. This season for the Jazz who the East.
— pay-per-vulgarity — cleanest four-letter word ut- time it’s at the next level.” averaged 21.9 points, was Hayward will wear the
they’d collect a few million tered by the Irish sensation Ten days after announcing more about the future than same No. 20 he wore at
bucks before they even hit McGregor and the unde- that he had accepted the the past. Butler and Utah. It was last
the ring for their Aug. 26 feated boxer Mayweather Celtics’ offer and agreed “I talked about why this worn in Boston by Ray Allen
fight. during a foul-mouthed pro- to leave Utah, Hayward of- transition was so great for during the New Big Three
All this commotion — a DJ motional tour that stopped ficially joined a team that me and my family, and also era that helped the fran-
and rapper Doug E. Fresh Thursday in New York. They earned the No. 1 seed in how hard it was to initially chise win its unprecedent-
warmed up the crowd of had made stops in Los An- the East last season and make the transition,” Ste- ed 17th NBA title.
13,165 — for a press confer- geles and Toronto. reached the conference vens said. “I tried to keep it “The last seven years play-
ence. “When I wake up in the finals. much more focused on the ing for the Jazz was some-
“If it even is a press confer- morning, I forget that I’m One of the most coveted now than our relationship thing that I’ll never forget.
ence,” McGregor cracked. famous,” the 40-year-old free agents of the offsea- 10 years ago.” I want to thank them for
“It’s a bit of a roasting.” Mayweather said. son, the Celtics lured Hay- It’s the second straight everything they gave me,”
McGregor, who turns 29 He got a reminder in Brook- ward from the Jazz with summer the Celtics have Hayward said. “There was
on Friday, was the picture lyn. a max contract and the landed a big free agent: just something different
of cool as he walked the Fans lined outside the chance to rejoin his college Last year, theybrought in Al about Boston, different
red carpet inside Barclays home of the Brooklyn Nets coach. At Butler, Stevens Horford (and made a pitch about being a Celtic, a dif-
Center. The UFC star wore NBA team hours before and Hayward were togeth- to Kevin Durant, as well). ferent feeling about being
floral pants, sunglasses and they were allowed inside er for the first of the Bull- That helped them reach a Boston Celtics, that won
ditched a shirt for a white the arena. q dogs’ back-to-back NCAA the Eastern Conference fi- me over.”q