Getty Boston Celtics guard Kyrie Irving
The drama between Kyrie Irving and the Celtics has no end in sight. The latest rift between the superstar player and the legendary franchise came to light when ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan reported Irving never liked living in Boston.
Speaking on the “Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective” podcast, MacMullan claimed Irving didn’t like Boston and had issues with Celtics head coach Brad Stevens and Celtics GM Danny Ainge. The free agent guard recently “ghosted” the team and opted out of his $21.3 million deal for next season.
Irving also parted ways with his longtime agent Jeff Wechsler, according to Adrian Wojnarowski, and signed on with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation. The latter move sparked immediate rumors that Irving would be heading to the Brooklyn Nets since the president of Roc Nation is the brother of Nets CEO Brett Yormark.
Kyrie Irving is serious about the Nets — and the Nets are serious about beating the Knicks — and rest of league — to the biggest free agents in the marketplace, per league sources.
The newest revelations regarding Irving’s uneasiness with residing in Boston and feuding with management has caused quite the stir in Beantown, with fans demanding the team move on from the failed experiment.
“Kyrie Irving didn’t like Boston,” MacMullan said. “I’ve been told this by many people. He didn’t like living in Boston. He just didn’t. By the end, he had issues with Brad [Stevens]. By the end, he had issues with Danny [Ainge]. By the end, he had issues with pretty much all of us.”
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Kyrie Irving’s feelings on Boston reportedly changed by the end of last season. (via Jackie MacMullan)
Adding to the already intense drama around the Irving situation is a report that the six-time All-Star dialed into a Boston radio show and pretended to be a random caller. He allegedly identified himself as “Mikey from Waltham” on the “Zolak and Bertrand Show” where he vehemently jumped to Irving’s defense.
“So, I was just calling in saying that, with such a rare talent like Kyrie, it’s a shame that the fans didn’t welcome him in more,” the caller known as Mikey said. “Talents like that are so rare they come by fast, and I think it serves us right that now he’s gone and look at what we’re left with.”
There has been a slew of recent rumors linking Irving to the Nets, Lakers and Knicks. The possible Lakers reunion with LeBron James appears to be a longshot, considering the lack of cap flexibility in Los Angeles, but that hasn’t stopped James from actively recruiting his former teammate in Cleveland.
Irving has missed major parts of his only two seasons with the Celtics and he has played in just 147 out of a possible 164 regular-season games. In 2018, he injured his knee and missed the entire postseason. He has flirted with leaving for the New York Knicks many times during that span, refusing to commit longterm to Boston.
For his part, Irving has remained relatively quiet on all the rumors and rampant speculation surrounding his free agency and NBA future. However, he did throw some shade at the media’s coverage of him in a recent Instagram post when he said “people are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.”
Back in February, Irving took the offensive when he told reporters that he didn’t “owe anybody shit” and brushed their questions about free agency aside until the offseason. Well, the offseason has arrived and we still don’t know where the enigmatic star is going to play next season.
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