Kyrie Irving Still Bitter About Former Celtics Coach Betraying Nets

There’s a lot of bad blood between Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics ever since Irving left the Celtics to sign with the Brooklyn Nets in free agency during the summer of 2019, contradicting his claims that he wanted to stay in Boston.

Irving and the Celtics have clashed three times in the playoffs since then. Irving’s Nets got the best of Boston in the first round of the 2021 postseason, but the Celtics returned the favor the following year before besting Irving’s Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals.

One thing that changed from 2021 to 2022 was Boston’s coaching staff. After their disappointing first-round exit, the Celtics promoted Brad Stevens from head coach to president of basketball operations and replaced him with Ime Udoka, who had been an assistant coach for Brooklyn the previous year.

During a live stream on Tuesday night, Irving said he believes Udoka played a critical role in helping Boston sweep his old team.

Kyrie Irving talks about how Ime Udoka snaked Him, KD and Brooklyn for Boston and how he knew everything they were doing😭 pic.twitter.com/GXeqLw8q8D

— 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘢☆ (@Stunna999_) July 23, 2025

“Ime Udoka literally went to the Boston Celtics after coaching with us. That was crazy bro!” Irving said. “We’re in the same division. Can you imagine going against the coach that literally saw all of our strengths and weaknesses, and now we’re playing against him? So Boston was ready for us. Ime had them ready.”

Under Udoka, the Celtics looked more prepared for their rematch with the Nets. All four games were close (decided by seven points or less), but Boston prevailed.

It also helped that Brooklyn had traded James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers midseason, putting more pressure on Irving and Kevin Durant.

Udoka guided the Celtics to the NBA Finals that year, where they lost to the Golden State Warriors. He now coaches the Houston Rockets after being fired from Boston for violating team policies.

While Irving and Udoka are both with different teams now, Irving still hasn’t forgotten Udoka’s impact on the Celtics during his first season with them.