Kyrie Irving isn’t going to be happy this article and headline exist. He doesn’t want them to exist. He made that quite clear following the Boston Celtics’ victory over the New York Knicks.
Asked whether The Big Apple was, indeed, on his list of preferred trade destinations over the summer, Irving admitted it was, but wouldn’t give much else, per the New York Post‘s Marc Berman:
“Where is this gonna go?,’’ said Irving, who can opt out of his contract and become a free agent in 2019. “It’s pretty easy man. They were on my list for a reason, I think you guys know that. Close to home, that’s about it. I’m not going to go into detail about all that extra stuff because I know where this is going to lead.’’
When Irving looked up, a phalanx of cameras started walking over to the small group. “Cameras all here, I know exactly where this is going to go,’’ Irving said before walking out of the arena.
This feels like one of those times when Irving isn’t just deflecting. He’s telling the truth.
Maybe playing with Kristaps Porzingis or Carmelo Anthony appealed to him, but it could have taken either one or both of them to get a deal done. He sure as hell wasn’t looking forward to playing with Tim Hardaway Jr., and the Knicks have done little, if anything, to make themselves appealing to outside players for their front-office synergy.
In fact, Irving’s desire to play near where he grew up—West Orange, New Jersey—is the only reasonable explanation for why he would ever want to play for the Knicks are they currently lie.
