2019 NBA free agency: Ranking Kyrie Irving’s best potential landing spots
4. Boston Celtics
One obvious candidate for Kyrie Irving’s services is the Boston Celtics. Of the five teams on this list, they perhaps have the best understanding of how happy (or unhappy) Irving was over the last two seasons and what his mindset is heading into the free agency period.
In two seasons with the Celtics, Irving averaged 24.1 points, 6.1 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game in 127 appearances while helping them return to being one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
Unfortunately, at the tail-end of his time with the Celtics, many around the NBA began to believe that Irving might consider leaving the organization. On Monday, ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski said on SportsCenter that the Celtics are “almost at the point of resignation” with Irving and might be looking forward to potentially moving on without the star point guard:
Woj says on @SportsCenter that the Celtics are "almost to the point of resignation" that Kyrie is going to leave.
— Chris Grenham (@chrisgrenham) June 17, 2019
Also reaffirmed that the Celtics will try to trade at least one of their three first-round picks. pic.twitter.com/2K8ViOgPGT
Earlier in the day on Monday, The Athletic‘s Shams Charania reported that Irving will meet with Boston soon, maybe even prior to the 2019 NBA Draft, to discuss his future and where he might be leaning this offseason.
If Irving were to return to Boston in 2019-20, the Celtics would likely return as one of top teams in the East and would be in a position to contend for a NBA championship once again.
You’d think Boston would be one of the teams that Irving would strongly consider once the free agency signing period begins on June 30, but we will soon learn more clearly where the organization stands with the point guard if/when they meet later on this week.