The Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks are the two teams left standing in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, and they are gearing up to face off against each other with a championship on the line. One of the biggest storylines in this series is the return of Kyrie Irving to Boston, and it's clear that he is a player that Jayson Tatum and the C's are going to have to gameplan for.
Irving spent two seasons in Boston, which were Tatum's first two years in the NBA. While Kyrie had a rocky departure from the Celtics, he's remained close with several of his former teammates, including Tatum. While the city of Boston still hates Irving, the same isn't true for Tatum, who looked back fondly on his time spent alongside the current Mavericks star guard.
Via Jay King:
“Jayson Tatum on Kyrie Irving: ‘It feels like it was a long time ago but I have a lot of great memories of having Ky as a teammate.'”
Jayson Tatum reveals what he learned during his shared time with Kyrie Irving
Ahead of the 2018-19 season, Irving declared to Celtics fans that he would re-sign with the team over the ensuing offseason, but after enduring a tough campaign that saw the team get eliminated in the second round of the playoffs, Irving bolted for the Brooklyn Nets, teaming up with Kevin Durant in the process. As a result, many Boston fans took exception to Irving going back on his word, which is largely why they still aren't fond of him to this day.
The 2018-19 Celtics had a ton of talent on their roster, but they simply couldn't put all of the pieces together to accomplish their main goal. It was a tough situation for a young Tatum to be a part of, but he shared that he managed to make it a learning experience that he could build off of, and he's hoping it will yield the first title of his career with a victory in the 2024 Finals.
Via Bobby Krivitsky:
“Jayson Tatum on what he took from his last year playing with Kyrie, a turmoil-filled season: ‘Learning that being on such a talented team that it's not just talent that's gonna take you over the top. You have to have guys that are willing to sacrifice, guys that are willing to do the other things for the team to have a chance. And it wasn't a Kyrie thing, it was all of us. And we all learned from it, we all moved on, some of us stayed here, some guys left…and I just look at it as a great learning experience from my second year.'”
While these two guys may still be friendly, that relationship will be put to the side once Game 1 of the series tips off. After coming up short in the 2022 NBA Finals, Tatum and the C's know the stakes of this series, and they will be looking to do what they couldn't do two years ago and finish their season on a high note. A big role in that is going to involve slowing down Irving, and if Tatum and company can do that, they will have a good shot to get revenge on him for spurning the C's, even if that's not exactly what they are looking for.
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