MILWAUKEE, WI – MAY 8: Kyrie Irving #11 of the Boston Celtics speaks to the media Game Five of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Milwaukee Bucks during the 2019 NBA Playoffs on May 8, 2019 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)
The Boston Celtics just received a blow to their hopes of retaining star point guard Kyrie Irving.
Kyrie Irving is changing agents, and it’s not good news for any Boston Celtics fans who want him to stay in town. He is widely expected to sign with Roc Nation. That will place him firmly with Jay-Z’s agency, and the rapper helped launch the Brooklyn Nets. It would be logical that Jay would push Irving more towards the Nets, who actually made the playoffs, rather than the New York Knicks.
Irving is a two-time NBA champion and a six-time All-Star. He will become an unrestricted free agent this summer, and it’s been widely thought that he will leave Boston for one of the teams based in New York. The Knicks and Nets are obviously both hopeful to sign the talented point guard. This seems to be a sign of that possibility coming to fruition.
It was rumored that Kevin Durant might join Irving in free agency, but that is up in the air now that Durant had surgery on his Achilles tendon. Both the Knicks and Nets are so desperate that they would probably still sign both players. That would have to come with a lot of patience at this point though. Durant won’t be seen in a live game until around 10 months from now. That’s a long time.
There was some talk that Irving might rejoin LeBron James and sign with the Los Angeles Lakers; however, that always seemed like a pipe dream.
Jay-Z is definitely a happy man today. You can be sure of that, because his agency is about to sign one of the best, most lucrative, and entertainment savvy players in the league. Whether or not Irving heads home to New York remains to be seen, but the chances of that happening definitely just went up.