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In a recent one-on-one interview with Shams Charania of The Athletic, Celtics All-Star Kyrie Irving listed Boston's rich culture as one of the determining factors in his decision to commit long-term.
Boston has long been known as a city of champions. The Celtics, for instance, have a whopping 17 championship banners hanging from the rafters inside TD Garden. Irving says he kept his options open before openly committing, but it was the idea of his future in Boston that meant the most.
“I had a lot of considerations of going elsewhere,” Irving said during his interview with Charania. “Naturally, you want to keep your options open. You want to think about the future. But at the end of the day, I started honing in on what meant the most to me, and that was having a future here in Boston, having great teammates, having a great training staff, great upper management. And most importantly, it's being connected to an incredible (x2) culture that has existed way before me and will exist after me. I wanted to be a part of that.
“It's the next challenge in my career, and I need to handle it face on,” Irving said in closing.
Sitdown with Celtics star Kyrie Irving, on early Boston commitment, leaning on familiar voice from past decisions: “Most importantly, it’s being connected to an incredible, incredible culture that has existed way before me and will exist after me. I wanted to be part of that.” pic.twitter.com/1apczOG20w
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 8, 2018
Irving, now 26 years of age, is widely-viewed as one of the best ball handlers in recent history. The former No. 1 overall pick has quickly endeared himself to the city of Boston and its fans. He's made 10 appearances with the C's this season (all starts), racking up averages of 19.2 points on 48.0 percent shooting from the field (41.0 percent from beyond the arc), 5.3 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 1.0 steal in 31.6 minutes per outing.
Irving and the Celtics will be back in action on Thursday night, then they'll travel to Phoenix for a match-up against the Suns. Tip-off inside Talking Stick Resort Arena is set for 9:00 p.m. EST.
