Jazz fans sure love Gordon Hayward.
The 6-foot-8, 225-pounder — who made his first All-Star appearance this year — could exercise an option in his contract to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Rumors around the league keep swirling that he could leave the Jazz for the Boston Celtics or the Miami Heat.
Of course, a lot will come down to what the Jazz are willing to offer him, and that’s one of the reasons why Jazz fans have been taking it into their own hands to try and keep the All-Star player. One even started a GoFundMe page which quickly reached its goal of $5,000 to rent a billboard with the phrase “Stayward” — a combination of Stay and Hayward.
We are officially underway!
Send us your pictures and location as they pop up around the valley and don't forget to use #Stayward. pic.twitter.com/6SPAO4V5eT
— Stayward (@UtahJazz6Man) May 16, 2017
While the project initially started off to get one billboard, the “Stayward” campaign quickly gained traction among Jazz fans who had fun in the process as they listed the names of “donors” as “Gail Miller,” “Michael Jordan,” “Donald Trump,” and “Quin Snyder” under the recent donations column on the GoFundMe page.
After surpassing the goal, and as of Tuesday morning, “Stayward” can now be seen along the I-15 corridor on a number of billboards.
We didn't forget you, North Salt Lake. #STAYWARD pic.twitter.com/gstBOZ62Ol
— Stayward (@UtahJazz6Man) May 16, 2017
Adam Stoker, owner of Relic, an advertising company, jumped right on board when he first heard about the plan.
“As soon as I heard about it, I said, ‘Hey, let’s see if we can get involved,'” Stoker told Fox 13 news.
So just how big of a Jazz fan is Stoker? Well, considering he’s put in nearly 75 hours of work — at no charge — to come up with the design, you can say he’s as diehard as they get.
Spotted this #StayWard billboard heading South on I-15.
Around 5754 South 320 West in Murray #GordonHayward #JazzNation#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/mZnfUs1fbK— JazzNation (@JazzNationNews) May 17, 2017
After they got in contact with Compass billboards, they were given the green light to put up eight billboards throughout the Salt Lake Valley. Usually a project that runs for a month costs around $50,000, but the campaign got the deal of a lifetime and hopefully, Hayward will do the same for Jazz fans.
This isn’t the first time fans have #TakenNote of Hayward. Last month, a young fan even dropped off a pack of Gatorade after the All-Star player went down with food poisoning in Game 4 against the Los Angeles Clippers.
