A few weeks after his trade request from the Cleveland Cavaliers became public knowledge, All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving got his wish and was traded to the Boston Celtics.
According to DJ Dunson of Yahoo Sports, Hall of Famer Reggie Miller gave insight to the exact moment that Irving found out he had been moved to the Celtics.
“We were in this small, hot, cramped van getting ready to shoot a scene and all of our phones ding at the same time, except for Kyrie,” Miller said. “He didn’t have his phone.”
After Webber, Miller and Robinson realized what happened, they briefly pondered the best way to break the news to Irving and settled on blurting it out.
“And we’re looking at one other like, ‘Should we tell him?'” Miller said. “Obviously, we had to tell him because he was, like, right in front of us, so we all showed him the phone.”
From the sound of it, Irving’s reaction was probably more subdued than Isaiah Thomas’ was.
“His expression was funny,” Miller said. “He was like, ‘Huh? Let’s do this.’ And that’s how we all found out that he had been traded to the Celtics.”
It was likely that Irving may have been contacted prior to the trade, but since he didn't have his phone, the message was unable to get relayed to him when the move was announced. Either way, it's clear that the 25-year-old was fully ready to embrace the challenge and change of scenery that he had asked to receive.
The type of reaction that Irving had following the news shouldn't come as much of a surprise given everything that has unfolded since then. This was something that he had quietly been desiring for quite some behind the scenes.
Irving has the opportunity in front of him to become the face of the franchise for the Celtics while being the leading offensive factor. He could help immediately make Boston into a championship contender this upcoming season as the biggest threat to dethrone the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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