BOSTON — Sorry, Patriots fans. Avery Bradley won’t be on your side this Sunday.
The Boston Celtics guard and Tacoma, Wash., native will be rooting for the team he grew up with in Super Bowl XLIX.
“The Seahawks,” Bradley said Friday when asked whether Seattle or the New England Patriots will hoist the Lombardi Trophy. “I’m hoping they win the Super Bowl. I feel like they did a lot of work this year to prove a lot of people wrong, and for them to have a chance to win two in a row, I’m excited for them.”
Bradley’s locker sits just a few stalls down from that of avid Patriots fan Gerald Wallace, but he said they’ve kept the trash talk to a minimum so far. That might change come Sunday, though, when the Celtics host the Miami Heat just a few hours before kickoff.
“Gerald loves the Patriots, and obviously I’m a fan of the Seahawks,” Bradley said. “We’ve been talking a little junk, but I think next game I might wear my Seahawks stuff and he’ll wear his Patriots stuff. So, we’ll see.”
Bradley, a defensive maven on the basketball court, long has shared a friendship with one of the Seahawks’ top defenders, All-Pro safety Earl Thomas. Thomas, a fellow University of Texas product, called Bradley “my boy” when speaking with reporters this week in Arizona.
“My rookie year, my first year here (in Seattle), he would come over and chill,” Thomas said, via The Worcester Telegram. “We would talk. Those are great moments. He plays in the NBA. I play in the NFL. We went to the same college, and we’re still trying to keep that same kind of communication.”
When asked to predict the Super Bowl MVP, however, Bradley leaned toward Beast Mode.
“I’m an Earl Thomas fan, but I like Marshawn Lynch a lot,” Bradley said. “I think he brings a lot to their team.”
And Lynch’s now-infamous press conferences, is Bradley a fan of them, too?
“It’s really hard to say,” he said. “I’m just excited to see him play. Just like he’s been saying, he just wants to get on the field, he doesn’t want to talk about it.”
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
