After an overtime loss against the Knicks on Wednesday, the Jazz are 18-24 but in the race for the final playoff spot in the West. While their season has been up and down and filled with injuries, one constant has been Gordon Hayward. The 25-year-old forward is averaging a career high 19.6 points in his sixth season with Utah.

Hayward is also a twin, an avid gamer, and as several GQ staffers pointed out last night, the owner of the most pristine haircut in the NBA. So we had to talk to him while he was in town...

You were 5’11” as a freshman in high school, then had a growth spurt and was a 6’4” sophomore. If that doesn’t happen, are you playing basketball today?

I don’t know what I would be doing. I didn’t even see myself playing basketball collegiately because I was way too small. I was trying to be realistic with it. I thought eventually I would play tennis, a sport I was good at, and a sport where you don’t have to be physically as big. I definitely didn’t envision myself here.

You played mixed doubles tennis with your twin sister Heather growing up. Was there some kinetic ability between twins that was evident on the tennis court?

No, there wasn’t. That’s a myth for sure [laughs]. I think just being around each other all the time helps you to know potentially what they’re going to do. We didn’t have that telepathy that’s for sure.

So in what ways were your personalities similar or different?

We were both competitive. Like most twins, we competed about everything: who would get in the car the fastest, who would get better grades in school, who could be the best at sports. I think I was more of a sore loser than she was though. She didn’t like confrontations or arguments, which made us different.

You’re an avid gamer. What’s the first video game system you owned?

NES. A regular Nintendo. Originally, I started playing with my dad. He was the one who got me into it. Once there was more than three buttons, he was out. So when the better consoles came out, he stopped playing.

Your favorite games?

Contra. Double Dragon. My dad was a Duck Hunt guy. I think once the Nintendo 64 came out, that’s when Legend of Zelda became a big thing of mine.

GoldenEye 007 on Nintendo 64? That was a classic.

My mom didn’t let me play GoldenEye so I had to play at a friend's house.

Why?

At the time it was a teen game [note: Hayward was 7-years-old when GoldenEye 007 was released in 1997]. The rating was not good enough. She was pretty strict.

That’s quite a rebellious act.

Definitely [laughs]. Sneaking over to my friend's to play GoldenEye.

And did your mom find out?

She did. I was grounded on multiple occasions.

Like legitimately grounded? No video games?

They took away the video games and the TV.

I’ve read your parents put very strict limits on how many hours you could play video games a night, and you pushed it to the limit every time. Did they actually put you on a clock?

Yeah, they would. It was in the basement so they would know when I went down there and how long I was down there. My dad’s a computer engineer so he was good with networks. He would get to the point where he would just shut off the Internet at a certain time. We got into several arguments about that. I guess looking back it was better to get into arguments about that than doing other things that were worse.