Getty Kyrie Irving scans the court against the Milwaukee Bucks in 2019.
At one point, it seemed like Kyrie Irving would be a member of the Boston Celtics for the long-term future. “If you guys will have me, I plan on re-signing here next summer,” Irving told an arena of season-ticket holders in TD Garden back in 2018. Kyrie and the Boston Celtics, what once seemed like a match made in heaven has quickly turned into one of the NBA’s most hostile relationships. On Friday Night, Kyrie stoked the fire even more.
Kyrie’s New Pregame Routine
During the pre-game of the preseason matchup between the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets, Kyrie lit sage and spread it all over the arena of TD Garden. The purpose of burning sage is to cleanse a person or rid an environment of negative energy to promote healing and wisdom. Is the negative energy that Kyrie is trying to cleanse the Boston faithful?
Kyrie’s Split From Boston Was Ugly
Kyrie and the Celtics had a notoriously bad break-up. After demanding a trade from the Cavs to the Celtics in 2017, Irving was injured for most of his tenure and never suited up for the playoffs. Many fans felt as if he had quit the organization. It didn’t help when Celtics General Manager and President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge said that he knew Irving was leaving before the 2019 NBA Playoffs had even started. “I had a pretty good idea in March or April. Not for sure, though,” Ainge told members of the Boston media during a press conference in July 2019. “But I was obviously thinking of moving in a different direction at that point, thinking about different options.”
Time Heals All Wounds
Kyrie and the Celtics are not the only player-fan base relationship to hit a rough patch. Irving’s teammate Kevin Durant went through the same thing with Thunder fans when he left to join Golden State in 2016. Irving’s former teammate LeBron James also had to deal with the backlash from Cavs fans when he took his talents to South Beach in 2010 to join the Miami Heat. Cavs owner Dan Gilbert even penned one of the most gut-wrenching letters to LeBron on behalf of the Cleveland fan base. Both have rekindled their relationships with those fan bases and LeBron even returned to win the Cavaliers the franchise’s first championship in 2016. Can the relationship between Kyrie and the Boston Celtics fans ever be repaired? Only time will tell.
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