It’s Gordon Hayward injury update week here on Celtics Wire, with the man himself joining the Dan Patrick Show to dive into his mentality surrounding his recovery from a broken ankle.

Hayward discussed climbing out of the depression of seeing his season slip away right when it started and how he will measure his final steps to coming back, which he says could happen anywhere from this season to the next.

Do you need to wait until you feel mentally the same as you did before the injury?

“That’s 100% true. The play that we ran there, I’ve done that play maybe 60-70 times next year. I think when I’ll be 100% is when I’m able to run that exact same play and not think about it twice. That’s another hurdle at the end there where I may be physically 100-percent, but I have to be mentally there as well.”

What was more difficult: The pain or the depression?

“Definitely the depression. It’s been painful, but it’s nothing like sitting around watching the team you were supposed to be playing with this year. I signed to play for the Boston Celtics this year now to only sit and watch the Boston Celtics this year. That part has been difficult and much more difficult ot deal with than the pain.”

How realistic is getting back or is it just a mindset to prepare for this year?

I work out every day to try to increase my range of motion and increase my strength in my legs so that I can be back as fast as I can. Whether that’s this year or this summer or next year, I will just let that happen. But for sure, as a competitor, I’m just trying to come back faster than anyone has ever done it. They keep me to a pretty strict protocol, so that’s just what I do.

On working with a sports psychologist to see this injury as an opportunity

I see a sports psychologist once a week. We talk about the injury and moving forward and the positive that can come from it. Talking about it and talking about how I’m able to work on different things that I might not be able to do if I was in the middle of the season…spinning it different ways to look at the positives so I can see different things I can work on. I’m out of that depression phase.

Do your young daughters understand what’s going on, or are they just cute kids?

They don’t understand too much what’s going on. They saw that daddy has a booboo. So they’ll run up to it and give it a hug or kiss. Originally I had a big cast so they would decorate it and put on stickers.

Any consideration for going back to Indiana for rehab work?

We haven’t talked about going over there. Right now I’m progressing so well that they kind of feel that we don’t need to explore other options. This is the first injury I’ve had that’s been serious, so I’ve never had to go through something like this. As cliché as that sounds, I’m just taking it day-by-day. That’s really how it’s been for me.

Author note: This interview was transcribed live and some answers may be partially missing unimportant parts.