Kyrie Irving has reiterated several times he plans to re-sign with the Boston Celtics instead of leaving next summer as an unrestricted free agent.
Irving likes what the Celtics have done to their roster and sees an even brighter future given Boston’s abundance of future draft capital and the development of the team’s young stars.
Despite all of these facts, executives around the league aren’t ready to give up on the possibility of luring Irving out of Boston.
“As any college coach will tell you, a verbal commitment is just that,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst wrote Wednesday. “Also, the Celtics will probably be willing to make the five-year offer to Irving, but that’s not in stone at this point with Irving’s history of injuries and many months to go.
“Plenty of executives have the magnet with Irving’s name on it slapped in the ‘UFA’ (unrestricted free agent) column on their whiteboards.”
Windhorst raises a fair point, and it’s worth noting Irving and the Celtics haven’t started the 2018-19 season particularly well.
Boston is 2-2 after losing in disappointing fashion at home to the Orlando Magic on Monday night. Irving is averaging 16.5 points per game on 39.1 percent shooting through four games.
There’s a lot of time between now and when free agency begins, so while it’s OK to trust Irving, anything can happen over the course of a long season full of high expectations for player and team.
