Kyrie Irving’s feelings for the Boston Celtics should encourage the team and its fans.
The Celtics guard, who can be an unrestricted free agent after the upcoming season, explained Monday in an interview with NBC Sports Boston why he’d struggle to leave the team next summer as a free agent. On the eve of the 2018-19 training camp, he cited his “special” relationship with the organization and city and joked they won’t let him walk away even if he wanted to (and he doesn’t).
“It’s like, man, if you only knew how special this organization was, and how special these guys are in this locker room … even if I had the inclination to test free agency, Boston’s gonna be like, ‘No, you’re coming back’,” Irving said at Celtics Media Day, per NBC Sports Boston. “And I’m fine with that.”
Irving’s comments to NBCSB reinforce the message he delivered to other reporters Monday: “Boston is the place for me.”
Irving made a big impact on the Celtics last season before a knee injury curtailed his debut campaign in Boston. He now is fully recovered, more at ease and looking forward to challenging for Eastern Conference supremacy and perhaps the NBA championship.
“I think coming into this year, how comfortable I am, and being around the guys, it’s a lot different than just coming in off a trade… the focus is different, the feeling is different, the love is just the same… it’s just a lot more elevated, which I’m appreciative of,” Irving said.
Nevertheless, Irving, 26, accepts swirling rumors about his future as a fact of life in the NBA.
“It comes with the territory, which I understand, and also, the point I’m at in my career, it warrants that, naturally,” he said.
But he leaves little doubt over where he stands at the dawn of a pivotal campaign in his own career and the Celtics’ history.
