At every level of their organization, the Boston Celtics appear confident Kyrie Irving will make the right decision next summer.
The Celtics guard can opt out of his contract to become a free agent after this season, and he’s expected to have several serious suitors. But Irving’s comments this week suggest he’ll have a pretty hard time leaving such a great situation in Boston.
Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck is a little biased, but he wholeheartedly agrees with Irving.
“What he’s saying publicly, I think he’s genuinely excited about the team and he likes being here in Boston,” Grousbeck said during an interview on 98.5 the Sports Hub’s “Felger & Mazz” radio show, via NBC Sports Boston. “And that’s the idea. That’s why we wanted to make a stretch and get him last year because we thought once he saw it here, he would take to it.”
The future indeed is bright on Causeway Street; Irving and Gordon Hayward lead a young, talented and impressively deep Celtics team that’s the preseason favorite to win the Eastern Conference and could challenge the Golden State Warriors for NBA supremacy for years to come.
But could the New York Knicks — Irving’s hometown team — entice him to skip town next summer? What if they sign his close friend Jimmy Butler, who he reportedly wants to play with?
“I’m just not too worried about Kyrie,” Grousbeck said. “I think he’s going to see what we have and he’s going to be part of leading it and building it. And if you lead something and build something in Boston, that’s a legacy. And that could end up in the rafters (with a retired jersey number), OK. And you really can’t say that anywhere else.”
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge recently expressed a similar optimism that Irving will buy what Boston is selling and sign a long-term deal with the C’s. Of course, that decision still is a long way off, and Grousbeck seems to accept that.
“I think he’s fully within his rights to say nothing except, ‘let’s play this year’ and ‘I’m going to be a free agent,’ ” Grousbeck said. “He doesn’t owe me anything. He doesn’t owe, I don’t think the fans of Boston in fact, even anything, to commit right now. I think he’s saying, ‘I’m very happy, let’s play basketball.’ “
