SALT LAKE CITY — Brad Stevens has an idea of how to bring Gordon Hayward back for the playoffs.

“Maybe just to list him as questionable, just to mess with people,” the Celtics coach joked when asked if Hayward, still in a long rehab following ankle surgery, might travel with the team during the playoffs.

Had Hayward not broken his ankle on opening night, last night’s game against the Jazz would have been an emotional benchmark in the veteran forward’s season. Instead, Stevens said the Celtics set up a trip to Miami for Hayward, a big tennis fan and player, to watch an ATP tour event.

But sour feelings remain over Hayward’s decision to leave his team of seven seasons for the Celtics last summer.

Gordon Monson, a columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune who has been the voice of those spurned Jazz fans, stepped in with a “Gordon who?” column earlier this week. Monson actually used the phrase, while delving into how rookie of the year front-runner Donovan Mitchell and the rest of the Utah lineup are better off without Hayward.

The Celtics scrapped their idea to have Hayward travel with the team roughly a month ago due to the slow progress of his workouts, with last night’s game looming as a potential red flag date had he traveled.

A sunny tennis tournament is a much healthier destination than the hurt feelings that would have been on display in Utah.

“Progressing well, still on the Alter-G (resistance machine) though and not on the court as far as running goes,” Stevens said of Hayward’s progress. “He has a long way to go still. Actually organized for him to go down to Miami for a couple of days this week, to the ATP tour. He watched some tennis, which is one of his favorite things to do, and continued his rehab down there.

“As we’ve tried throughout his whole process, we’ve tried to mix it up for him, just to keep him in a good mindset,” the coach added. “He’s in a really good place. It’s hard. He hasn’t played the whole season and now as you’re entering playoff time, that’s a whole other level of interest you have in your team, and I know that’s hard for him.”

It’s hard, according to Stevens, because of the isolated nature of Hayward’s workouts.

“Basically everything he needs to do is there in Boston,” Stevens said. “He hasn’t been able to travel with us since. You’re in and out over the course of the season anyway, but he’s in there every day when we’re in there. He’s usually done with most of his training table work and his lifting by the time the other guys get in there. He has his own shooting times still, and still around when we’re there. But it’s a challenge over the course of the season, when you lose your season six minutes into it.”

With the exception of Hayward, no one probably has more anticipation of his return to a basketball court than his longtime coach.

Stevens can imagine that moment.

“He’s a strong kid, but this is a challenge for anybody,” he said. “There will be nothing more exciting for him than to get back out on the basketball court. Anybody who has ever been injured knows that, whether it’s two weeks, three weeks, whatever the case may be.

“But when it’s this long to get back on the court, if he loved it before, he’ll really love it now.”