Boston Celtics’ Kyrie Irving has been popping up in the media quite a lot lately, making fans and (particularly Irving himself not too happy.
There’s been rumours surrounding Irving’s potential retirement from the Celtics and the NBA franchise for a while now, whether it be a conversation with a friend turning into “Irving convincing Durant to join him on the Knicks” or changes in morale, “hints” just keep popping up one after another; with the most recent cases being over the past few days.
Just last Sunday, the six-time All-Star was not too happy with a cameraman waiting for him at TD Garden, as anyone would be. Although we can understand Irving’s frustrations surrounding the media and his distaste towards everything he says being twisted, he seems to be digging his own hole deeper and deeper.
He started off saying “I’m not going to miss any of this s**t when I’m done playing.”, and then followed up by stating he “doesn’t care” about the statement being recorded.
I see you @kyrieirving ? pic.twitter.com/TalwZPrkfa
— Ruchi Jain (@ruchijain4_) March 3, 2019
Celtics fans quickly came to his defence; that he was just irritated by being followed and it wasn’t meant to foreshadow him leaving any time soon. Obviously, anyone would be annoyed by being in Irving’s position, but considering the other changes to his character and those around him, we can’t help but feel doubts sparking in our minds.
According to The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor, whispers from within the league say that Irving has “become disengaged and detached from those around the team.”, as O’Connor found out after spending a few days in close proximity to the squad. He continued on by stating that even after the team had a win under their belt against the Wizards, the locker room was dead enough to hear a pin drop.
Sources state that this has been a running theme for the whole season so far, with the squad’s behaviour being almost unrecognisable in comparison to their jovial, tight-knit communication from the season prior.
This could all be due to the fact that the Celtics seem to be on a downward spiral, which has previously been pretty unlikely for Boston’s own. Although, what we really want to know next is the real reason for this huge spike in demeanour.
If we could fast forward from October 2018’s promise to re-sign with the team to now, we’d be looking at a completely different Irving. Ever since the point guard responded with his aim to do what’s best for his family and that he doesn’t “owe anybody shit” back in February when being asked about potentially joining the New York Knicks next season, his character has flipped.
This could all well and be due to Irving being fed up with how he’s portrayed and over-analysed in the media, or, it could be because he’s scared the observations are true.
Cover image via Twitter @985TheSportsHub.
