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Boston Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving spoke with members of the media during Friday morning's practice session. During his availability, the former Duke standout spoke highly of the New York Knicks, who traded Kristaps Porzingis to the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday afternoon.
Kyrie Irving acknowledged he sees the Knicks positioning themselves for this summer. Said he respects the organization.
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) February 1, 2019
Irving, who grew up in New Jersey, has always held a special place in his heart for the Knicks. Whether or not New York will be able to land him in the future remains to be seen, but they'll certainly have enough cap space to do so in the wake of the Porzingis trade. In fact, the Knicks could have as much as $74.6 million in cap space, which is enough dough to sign two max-contract players.
The Knicks could be staring at $74.6M in projected cap space for next season. That would be good enough for 2 max slots.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) January 31, 2019
At the beginning of this season, Irving noted that he would like to be a Celtic long-term. However, during Friday's presser, he made it clear that he doesn't owe anyone a thing in terms of his future.
Kyrie Irving has shifted from his commitment to re-signing with the Celtics: “I don’t owe anybody shit.”
— Stefan Bondy (@SbondyNBA) February 1, 2019
Irving, who's currently dealing with a left hip strain, has established himself as one of the best ball handlers in recent history. It's safe to say that any team would be happy to have him on their roster.
In his 43 appearances with the Celtics this season (all starts), the former No. 1 overall pick has racked up averages of 23.7 points on 49.9 percent shooting from the field (41.2 percent from beyond the arc), 6.9 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 1.7 steals in 32.6 minutes per outing.
The writing is on the wall here, and it seems Irving is no longer committed to the Celtics long-term.
