Boston Celtics player who could lose minutes to Hayward No. 1) Semi Ojeleye
Coming into the league back in 2017, Boston Celtics fans have been clamoring exuberantly over how Semi Ojeleye possesses the ideal build for a modern-day NBA wing. While his production has not yet matched the status of his physical makeup, he still has managed to carve out a nice chunk of playing time within Brad Stevens’ rotation over his three-year tenure with the team.
In these 2020 playoffs, that trend continued on, especially while Gordon Hayward was out for the majority of the first two rounds.
With Marcus Smart inserted into the starting lineup, Ojeleye was viewed as the best wing in their second unit and, thus, received the most minutes amongst those of the same position.
However, with the former All-Star now back and coming off the bench to ease him back into the swing of things, the 25-year-old is back to his old rank as the second-best wing off the pine and, thus, is sure to see a regression in minutes.
Being the Cs will want to get Hayward as many minutes as reasonably possible moving forward, this hypothesis is only logical.
So far in the postseason, Ojeleye has averaged 9.8 minutes a game and has put up 1.8 points on 25 percent shooting from the floor.