The Celtics’ let the Kyrie Irving experiment fizzle out in the summer of 2019 when the star guard reached NBA free agency and signed with the Brooklyn Nets.
But Boston reportedly thought about cutting bait with Irving earlier than that juncture, and a discussed trade could have yielded the Celtics a game-changer who is vital to the organization’s 2024 championship hopes.
In a Yahoo Sports column published Monday, NBA reporter Jake Fischer detailed how Irving and Kristaps Porzingis took their paths to prominent roles in Dallas and Boston, respectively. In doing so, Fischer shared a nugget about a proposed trade involving both stars midway through the 2018-19 campaign.
“When the calendar flipped to 2019, as Irving’s second Celtics season drifted closer to the All-Star break — which brought us that hallway footage of Irving and Kevin Durant joining forces — Irving started sharing candid thoughts with members of the franchise about his lack of faith in Boston’s direction,” Fischer wrote. “The Celtics once dreamed of pairing Irving with Anthony Davis. But come late January, when New York’s front office began to quietly pursue deals to move on from Porzingis, the Celtics and Knicks even held tangible dialogue about swapping Irving for the 7-foot-2 sharpshooter, league sources told Yahoo Sports, before the Mavericks swooped in and sent a package headlined by two first-round picks to New York.”
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The Celtics were better off to acquire Porzingis when they did. After Irving departed Boston, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were able to cement themselves as the true faces of the franchise and they led the team to great success in the years that followed. Porzingis, meanwhile, went on a redemption tour in Washington after things didn’t work out in Dallas, and the C’s only needed to part with one high-end asset to land him last summer.
“Everything happens for a reason” is a tired cliche, but the sentiment holds true for both Irving and Porzingis. They both are in tremendous spots after a few rocky years and are four wins away from basketball’s most coveted prize.
Featured image via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
