The Boston Celtics are coming off a rather impressive 2017-18 NBA season. The fact that they did it without point guard Kyrie Irving and small forward Gordon Hayward means some major changes could be on the horizon.
Irving is set to become a free agent after next season. According to Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports, Boston is worried he may choose to go to another team like the New York Knicks:
I think they’re scared and should be scared to some degree of Kyrie Irving walking in 2019. I know he had a great year, but you know there are people in Cleveland that will tell you that the Knicks should be considered a real threat for Kyrie Irving. Because Kyrie had talked about it, about playing with the Knicks with some players in that Cleveland locker room from what I was told.
You know things can change. Obviously, you go to Boston. You become the face of the franchise. You’re on a winning team. Maybe the mindset has changed significantly.
The reports may come as a bit of a surprise to some considering how well he played in his first season with the Celtics. However, this year showed that Boston has plenty of quality depth behind him that they may want to explore moving forward.
Although the emergence of several young players may change his workload moving forward, there is still little reason to believe why Irving would not want to remain in Boston. He has praised the basketball mind of head coach Brad Stevens and he clearly has a supporting cast that can help take him back to the NBA Finals. Combine that with a healthy Gordon Hayward and the Celtics could be in serious championship contention as soon as next year.
The only factors that could seemingly spur Irving's potential departure are if he is not offered a max contract or he is not satisfied with the new pecking order of their talented roster. That said, it will be interesting to see how the team dynamic changes next season with a healthy squad.
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