Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens said recently that Gordon Hayward will not play again this season. There were no qualifiers of any sort. Stevens was direct and to the point, saying, "He's not playing this year. I don't know what else to say."

But Hayward, as should be expected, is not giving up hope.

The Celtics' big free-agent acquisition is rehabbing as hard as possible from the devastating ankle injury he suffered just a few minutes into his debut with the team on opening night, and said on Friday "the hope is still there" for a return. Via ESPN:

"My thoughts are that I take it day by day. And I said that from the very beginning, that's what I would do, not putting a timetable on it," Hayward said Friday while unveiling a new gym for students at the Timilty Middle School in Roxbury. "The recovery is going well. I'm progressing well. I was in the facility this morning, will be in the facility tomorrow. And that's kinda my goal -- just really focusing day by day."

"The hope is still there," Hayward said. "It's something where I'm really honestly not even thinking about it. I know we're getting toward the end of the year. It's something that I'm still working toward, but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen."

A few days ago, Celtics play-by-play guy Mike Gorman also said he believes Hayward will play this season, though he offered nothing more than his belief based on how much Hayward is working out. Via Boston.com:

Everybody tells me he is working out eight, nine hours a day, just religiously working out, doing everything they ask of him and more.

It seems to me if Gordon Hayward thought his next basketball game he was going to play in was going to be in next October, he might not be working out nine hours a day right now. He might be working out six. He might be working out and doing the minimum because he knows it's a long-term thing.

I think he is working out with the idea that he can be ready by the end of the season. Whether they want to activate him, whether they want to play him or not, that's a whole different question. But I truly believe that before the playoffs are over, we'll see him in a Celtics uniform. I just believe it.

It's still unlikely that Hayward will be back on the court this season, as there's only a month left before the playoffs begin, and Hayward is still running at just 70 percent of his bodyweight on the AlterG, an anti-gravity treadmill. But even so, this is good news for Celtics fans as Hayward looks to be progressing quite well, and should have no trouble whatsoever being ready for the start of next season.