Just recently, Kyrie Irving made a lot of Boston Celtics fans a little bit wary of their team’s future when it was reported that the star point guard might consider leaving Beantown via free agency in 2019.

While that free agency is an entire year away from when the rumor first surfaced, it has certainly caused a concern for the Celtics, one that would not die down any time soon, especially with the way Irving answered an inquiry from Sopan Deb of The New York Times, who asked the All-Star court general whether he thinks Boston is a team he imagines being part of for a long time.

https://twitter.com/SopanDeb/status/1005273144901492736

It’s worth noting that Deb interviewed Irving recently for a feature that was published in The New York Times earlier this week, though, the aforementioned quote didn’t make it past the final edits.

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The Celtics have control of Irving until 2019. By then, Irving could choose not to pick up his player option. That is also why Boston is going to make a decision soon whether to offer Irving an extension deal or wait to make a move until 2019.

Irving has been an indispensable part of the Celtics last season despite him not making a single appearance during the team’s surprisingly deep run into the Eastern Conference finals due to a knee issue.

In his first season in Boston, Irving managed to stitch together solid averages of 24.4 points, 5.1 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in 60 games in the regular season.

Kyrie Irving is expected to be ready by the start of the 2018-19 campaign.