Boston Celtics: A deeper look at the Kyrie Irving rumors

After publicly announcing that Kyrie Irving plans on re-signing with the Boston Celtics, reports have spilled out that there’s a possibility he may look elsewhere.

Jan. 28 marked a big day for the NBA world, as New Orleans Pelicans center Anthony Davis announced that he would not be signing an extension over the summer and would prefer to be traded, igniting a free-for-all of speculation for the five-time (soon to be six-time) All-Star.

Behind all that was a report from Yahoo! Sports reporter Chris Haynes, claiming that there’s growing belief that Kyrie Irving may not re-sign with the Boston Celtics. This comes as a bit of shock, seeing as how he was so adamant at the beginning of the season about returning to Boston.

After taking a deeper look, it’s not that surprising after all. There have numerous reports lately about Irving’s frustration with not winning and the difficulty of playing alongside some of the younger, inexperienced players.

The first comment that raised some eyebrows were his comments after Boston’s loss to the Orlando Magic on Jan. 12.

It was a disappointing loss, but these comments were not to be taken lightly. The sum of what he’s getting at is the Celtics are good team, but they haven’t performed like one. He does note that he needs to step up and become a better leader in order to bring the group together.

After those comments went viral, Irving said he should have kept what he said in house. NBA.com and reporter Keith Smith made it clear that Irving has made comments like this before.

"“The young guys don’t know what it takes to be a championship level team. What it takes every day. And if they think it is hard now, what do they think it will be like when we’re trying to get to the Finals?“There were no expectations last year. Everyone played free and easy. Everyone surpassed whatever they expected for themselves. This year? We all have high expectations. The players, the coaches, everyone. And that’s good, but we aren’t doing it yet.”"

Another report that gained national attention was Irving calling LeBron James to apologize for their time and issues in Cleveland. It’s not an important note, but it’s interesting that James was at dinner with Kevin Love at the time.

Here’s a quick look at what he said to him during the phone call:

"“I had to call ‘Bron, and tell him I apologize for being that young player that wanted everything at his fingertips,” Irving said after the Celtics beat the Toronto Raptors 118-107 on Wednesday night. “I wanted to be the guy that led us to a championship. I wanted to be the leader. I wanted to be all that.”"

Going off the James phone call, there was a report on Tuesday Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report that Irving may look to reunite with James in Los Angeles. Who knows what to believe, but it doesn’t come as a shock the way things have played out.

Throughout the season there have been numerous comments and actions from Irving that have been off-putting. These sorts of things have made it clear there’s a real chance he may not be with the team for the long haul.

One other little tidbit was Irving voicing his frustration at the end of the game when Gordon Hayward passed the ball to Jayson Tatum for the final shot and not himself. There’s been plenty of occasions where Irving has been visibly frustrated with how the year has gone, but all of this is starting to add up.

While the news of him possibly not re-signing with the Celtics comes as a bit of a shock, it boils down to everything that has happened since his public announcement of wanting to remain in Boston.

The Celtics still have a great chance at re-signing him during the offseason, but this report should not be taken lightly. More will come to fruition as the year goes along, and how they ultimately fare in the playoffs may be the determining factor in the end.