Hornets' Gordon Hayward in health and safety protocols, out vs. Pacers

The Charlotte Hornets have suffered back-to-back losses that poured cold water over recent positive momentum and offered fans some additional bad news ahead of Wednesday's game at the Indiana Pacers. 

Per ESPN, Hornets forward Gordon Hayward has entered the NBA's health and safety protocols and, as a result, will not be available to play at Indiana. As The State's Roderick Boone noted, Hayward missed Charlotte's previous two defeats with a foot injury that had his status for Wednesday up in the air.

Before the recent losses to the Atlanta Hawks and Toronto Raptors, Charlotte had won seven of eight contests. 

According to ESPN stats, Hayward begins the evening fourth on the Hornets in scoring with 17.0 points per game. He's also averaging 4.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists with a player efficiency rating of 16.52. 

"Missing Gordon impacted the game tonight," Hornets head coach James Borrego admitted after Sunday's loss to Atlanta, per Sam Perley of the club's website. “We needed some of those other guys to step up, but we will see what Tuesday brings us. We move on. I like the way our team stuck together tonight. We continued to compete and fight. I liked the mentality — the mentality of not giving in and continuing to fight — but the shots didn’t fall.”

Tuesday brought a second defeat, and Borrego now can't say how long he'll be without Hayward moving forward.