Kyrie Irving won’t exactly be getting any lavish parades thrown in his honor when he returns to Boston this weekend. Nevertheless, Irving is hoping that the city can move past their issues with him.
The Brooklyn Nets guard spoke with reporters on Friday and delivered a message for fans of the Boston Celtics ahead of their first-round playoff series against each other.
“I hope we could move past my Boston era and reflect on some of the highlights I left at TD Garden that they can replay,” he said, per Stefan Bondy of the NY Daily News. “Move forward. Just a new paradigm, baby.”
Irving is about as popular in Boston these days as the New York Yankees. He played for the Celtics for two total seasons from 2017 to 2019 but left in free agency to sign with the Nets the very first chance he got. Ever since then, the city has pretty much loathed Irving.
The problem with Irving’s call for Boston fans to focus on the higlights of his Celtics tenure is that there were not very many of them. While Irving made two All-Star teams and one All-NBA team in Boston, he was injured for the postseason in his first year and got gentleman’s swept out of the conference semifinals during his second year. Since leaving the Celtics, Irving has also gone out of his way to disrespect his former team.
Irving got a ruthless reception from the TD Garden crowd the last time he played in Boston. But despite his calls for the local fans to let bygones be bygones and sing “Kumbaya” with him, that is probably the exact same reception Irving can expect for their playoff series that starts Sunday.
