Two years ago, Kyrie Irving was asked about his experiences playing in Boston. A few days prior, veteran NBA center DeMarcus Cousins said a Celtics fan derided him with racial slurs -- far from the first.
While Irving said he supports Cousins, the All-Star claimed he's never heard racist taunts at the Garden.
"I myself can only speak for playing here as an opponent, I've never heard anything like that," Irving told reporters in March 2019, via MassLive. "I think coming to Boston has been an eye-opening experience for me, just getting an experience to know Boston. I haven't really heard too much about stuff like that."
Irving didn't play in front of Celtics fans for very long after those remarks. He bolted as a free agent the following summer, inking a max deal with the Brooklyn Nets. Due to injuries and COVID-19 restrictions, Friday will be the first time Irving plays in front of a crowd at the Garden since spurning the Celtics for their conference rival.
He said Tuesday he hopes there isn't any racism directed towards him.
Where did that come from?
"Hopefully we can just keep it strictly basketball, you know there's no belligerence or any racism going on, subtle racism, and people yelling s–t from the crowd," Irving said following the Nets' 130-108 blowout Game 2 victory.
When Irving was asked whether he's experienced any issues, he equivocated. "I'm not the only one that could attest to this," he said. "But it's just… you know. ... It is what it is. The whole world knows it."
Irving's words now about his time in Boston stand in stark contrast to what he said when he was a member of the Celtics. Back in October 2018, he proclaimed he couldn't imagine playing anywhere besides Boston. "No disrespect to any other organizations, but here was a perfect fit," he said.
Now he's worried about racist jeers? Or is this just another way for Irving to stoke the flames?
When Irving arrived in Boston, he spoke with unbridled optimism about his desire to become the next face of the NBA's most successful organization. "I just want to be with those incredible coaches and incredible minds, and I felt like in doing that, Boston came right at the exact time," Irving said at his introductory press conference.
Adding to the narrative, Irving's father, Drederick, was a standout guard at Boston University, and is the school's all-time leading scorer. Irving says his father is the biggest influence on his basketball career. In fact, Irving almost committed to play college ball at BU — back in the fifth grade. (He chose to play at Duke, a slightly more prestigious program.)
It was a storybook first season for Irving with the Celtics, until he became hampered by injuries. He missed the playoffs to recover from ankle surgery. The Celtics faced off against LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals without him.
Looking back, that playoff run probably spelled the end of Irving's short-lived Celtics career. He never seemingly meshed with burgeoning stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, criticizing his younger teammates' inexperience.
Despite that, Irving was still bashful about his green future. During a season kick-off party, he told the Garden faithful he was coming back. "I shared it with some of my teammates as well as the organization and everyone else in Boston: If you guys will have me back, I plan on re-signing here next year," he said.
The following day, Irving told reporters he wanted to secure his spot in Celtics history, and see his No. 11 hanging from the rafters. "To throw my name in Boston Celtics tradition and history is something I'm glad I can do," he added.
Then Irving wanted nothing to do with Boston. "If you guys will have me back" turned into "ask me July 1." Shortly thereafter, Irving was captured holding a clandestine conversation with Kevin Durant during All-Star Weekend. From that point on, his attitude towards the fans and media became adversarial. He started shutting down in press conferences and cursed at camera crews. Incredulously, Irving also claimed he never wanted to be a celebrity.
Uncle Drew wasn't available for comment.
Since joining the Nets, Irving has only become more ornery. When Celtics fans understandably booed his introduction during his scheduled return game (he was sidelined due to injury), Irving responded with an Instagram diatribe about how sports and entertainment will always be "ignorant and obtrusive."
Apparently, Irving considers sportswriters to be part of the problem, rather than people just trying to do their jobs. Last December, he was fined for refusing his media obligations, and then responded by calling reporters "pawns."
"I've had enough of someone else's propaganda," he wrote on Instagram, quoting Malcolm X. "I do not talk to Pawns. My attention is worth more."
There was a greater point Irving was trying to make. Through a publicist, he said he reevaluated his priorities during the COVID-19 pandemic, and wanted to draw back on his media obligations. That's totally understandable. The last 14 months have invited a lot of introspection.
But is it necessary for Irving to be such a jerk in the process?
That takes us back to Tuesday night, where Irving delivered another jab to Boston after pummeling the Celtics on the court. When Irving played at the Garden in December, it was a certifiable love fest. But then again, there were no fans in the stands.
After the game, Irving let out the big secret: He wants control over his spotlight. "Coming here is easy, man. Performing here is easy. Performing here is easy," he told reporters, via The Athletic. "Basketball is the easy part. It's just the external stuff beforehand that gets noisy, so I try to limit that."
By introducing racism into the equation, Irving has intensified the noise prior to Game 3. But now the conversation is taking place on his term.
Irving is one calculated contradiction artist.
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Sorry, I still believe Julio Jones knew he was on TV: Chris Simms says Julio Jones did not, in fact, know he was on the air when Shannon Sharpe called him Monday and randomly asked if he wanted to play for the Cowboys — after just a 20-second exchange of pleasantries. Simms says Jones and his agent are "very disappointed about it."
Sorry, but I'm not buying it. It's hard to believe Fox Sports producers would've cleared the stunt if they Sharpe said they were blindsiding Jones. The call is still posted on his Twitter page, too, which sports law attorney Dan Lust tells me is "as big of a clue as you're going to get" that the segment was staged.
On Twitter, CBS Sports legal analyst Amy Dash told me Jones "knew he was on air."
In this case, I'll take the legal experts over Chris Simms. Thanks.
NBA playoff ratings are back: Ratings for the opening weekend of the NBA playoffs were up 49 percent from the first eight games of last year's postseason, showing that last year's dramatic fall was more circumstantial than illustrative of a widespread backlash against the league's liberal social stances. Though it is worth mentioning, the topics of social justice and racism are largely absent from the conversation this postseason. The "Black Lives Matter" logos have been expunged from the court, and players are back to wearing their surnames on the back of their jerseys.
That's definitely not the reason ratings are almost 50 percent up. Games are being played in May instead of August; fans are back in arenas; COVID-19 restrictions are lifting nationwide. But it is playing a minuscule role. Basketball is once again the focus.
Seth Wickersham with another Patriots bombshell: The veteran ESPN investigative journalist came out with another Patriots bombshell (along with Don Van Natta Jr.) about how Donald Trump bribed Sen. Arlen Specter to stop his Spygate investigation on behalf of Robert Kraft. To paraphrase Bill Belichick, has anybody had more big Patriots scoops over the years than Seth Wickersham?
His January 2018 expose on the rift in Foxboro: "For Kraft, Brady and Belichick, is this the beginning of the end?," set the table for a surreal 2.5 years of Patriots Palace Intrigue, culminating in Brady signing with the Buccaneers in free agency. And now, there's the Spygate report.
Wickersham is writing a book on the Patriots Dynasty, set to be released in October. The revelations promise to be wild.
