Boston Celtics: 5 goals for the 2018 offseason

4. Figure out the Kyrie Irving situation

The Celtics traded for All-Star point guard Irving last offseason. Before the trade happened, it appeared that he was unhappy with his situation in Cleveland, which led many teams to of course view their options and consider whether or not if they should pursue him.

Irving listed a few teams that would have been his desired landing spots. Those included the New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Because he wasn’t a free agent at the time, the Cavaliers had the final say as to where they’d like to send him.

If you didn’t notice, none of the teams on that list included the Celtics. Before the Celtics sent away their assets, they knew what they were getting into. There was no guarantee that he’d re-sign with them in the summer of 2019. It was a gamble they decided to take and now it may be backfiring on them.

Chris Mannix of Yahoo! Sports reported on his podcast that there is concern that Irving could leave them in the 2019 offseason. The big threat, as of now, seems to be the Knicks. We don’t know the whole certainty behind this, but we do know that there is call for concern.

Chris Forsberg of ESPN reported an interview in which he was asked about his future next season and any contract extensions and he said:

"“Contractually, financially, [an extension] just doesn’t make any sense,”"

He later went on to note that right now he just is focused on winning a championship and that his contract situation is the last thing on his mind. The Celtics need to figure out any issues moving forward. If they need to look at a trade to open the door for Terry Rozier or get something in return instead of nothing in the summer of 2019, then they need to do so.