Terry Rozier remembers watching on as former Boston Celtics guard Kyrie Irving took the microphone and spoke to season-ticket holders at TD Garden in October 2018.
Irving, of course, told fans “If you guys will have me back, I plan on re-signing here next year.”
And while Rozier didn’t know it at the time, that moment would completely change the former first-round pick’s tenure with the team that drafted him. Rozier opened up to Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix on his ‘The Crossover’ podcast.
“I just feel like once he (Irving) stood up in front of the fans and said if they allowed him to come back, I feel like ever since that day people looked at me and was like ‘There’s no need for you no more,'” Rozier told Mannix.
“And it didn’t really have an effect on me right then and there, I was happy for him,” he added. “But once I seen how people kind of threw me in the trunk, threw me in the back seat, then it kind of became a problem for me. Like, how do I cope every day?”
Rozier recalled he was among the many Celtics who were surprised Irving made the commitment to Boston fans that day. Obviously, it was one that didn’t go a long way for Irving, who ended up signing with the Brooklyn Nets.
“And I didn’t even know he was even planning on doing that. I was like shocked. I was like ‘Oh, shoot,'” Rozier said. “But then it was like, I just seen people attitude change. I just seen things happen different.
“I think a lot of guys were shocked. Everybody didn’t know that he was planning on saying that in front of all the fans,” Rozier added.
A current member of the Charlotte Hornets, Rozier said he has no regrets and is happy with how everything worked out for both him and the Celtics. Rozier was part of a sign-and-trade that brought Kemba Walker to Boston and sent Rozier to Charlotte.
“There’s no hard feelings,” Rozier said.
