Kyrie Irving swung for the fences and knocked it out of the park.
The All-Star point guard requested a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers this past summer, seemingly in an effort to escape from LeBron James’ shadow, and it landed him with the Boston Celtics, who have looked like legitimate NBA Finals contenders for most of this season behind his stellar play.
In other words, you could say things have worked out well thus far.
“It was a big chance,” Irving told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols in a sit-down interview during the NBA All-Star break. “Babe Ruth said it — he swings big, may not miss big, may hit a home run. I don’t know.
“But seriously, I’m glad I took a chance on what I wanted to do within my career.”
That doesn’t mean Irving hasn’t been forced to make some changes. The 25-year-old acknowledged he sometimes looks around in amazement at just how different things are these days after spending his first six seasons in Cleveland, where he did win a title in 2016.
“Well it’s been a lot of newness, honestly,” Irving told Nichols. “Being with a totally different group of guys, it’s an adjustment in itself — individually and then trying to bridge that gap with our group and be my best self with our group. It’s been awesome. Trying at times, but well worth it.”
It’ll be even more worth it if Irving can help the Celtics raise their 18th championship banner to the TD Garden rafters.
