Boston Celtics star Kyrie Irving is not one to mince words. The five-time All-Star recently admitted to have strongly considered joining the New York Knicks prior to announcing his intention to re-sign with the C's next summer.

Following the Celtics' 103-101 victory over the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Irving openly spoke about the decision process he recently went through, and how he almost opted to be a Knick in the very near future.

“I mean, every team was under consideration, but obviously New York held a special place for me,” Irving said, via Peter Botte of the New York Post. “Just being from [New] Jersey and envisioning myself as a free agent and ultimately taking a meeting and playing for Fiz and the great young core they have here, thinking about playing with KP, that was a big thing before I made my decision to sign back — or, I don’t want to get in trouble, to plan on re-signing back — with Boston.

“But yeah, of course, New York was a strong consideration.”

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Irving's contract stipulates that he will have a player option next season, which means that he will effectively become a free agent this summer. Prior to publicly committing to the Celtics, he was considered to be one of the hottest prospects in the talent-packed 2019 free agent class. The Knicks were rumored to be his preferred destination, and based on his recent admission, the reports were actually true.

This by no means boosts the morale of the Knicks faithful, who have been on a bumpy ride over the past few years, to say the least. Having almost signed a bona fide superstar and former NBA champ means nothing. Then again, there is still a lot of time between now and the offseason, so until pen is put to paper, anything can happen, I guess.