Starting in the 2017-18 season Kyrie Irving was supposed to be Boston’s Guy, their point guard, their leader, their franchise face. The Guy who got ‘em a ring. Or two. Or many! It was supposed to be good.
That was his goal after living in LeBron James shadow for too long in Cleveland. And that was Boston's goal because that's always a team's goal: Rings!
Then when Jalyen Brown and Jayson Tatum emerged right away? Yeah.. sure looked like Kyrie's Celtics were gonna collect some hardware.
But they did not.
Instead... they got beef.
That was his goal after living in LeBron James shadow for too long in Cleveland. And that was Boston's goal because that's always a team's goal: Rings!
Then when Jalyen Brown and Jayson Tatum emerged right away? Yeah.. sure looked like Kyrie's Celtics were gonna collect some hardware.
But they did not.
Instead... they got beef.
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00:00Starting in the 2017-18 season, Kyrie Irving was supposed to be Boston's guy, their point guard, their leader, their franchise face, the guy who got him a ring, or two, or many. It was supposed to be good.
00:14But you know what they say, if what we suppose always hit the nose, nobody would choose to have minor deviated septum surgery during the playoffs, because Kyrie did that.
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00:41Now back to the beef. In July of 2017, tired of being LeBron's sidekick, Kyrie Irving requested a trade from the Cavs to... anywhere he could be the focal point and leader of a team.
00:53How about Boston? Asked the Celtics brass. They really wanted Irving. Had to give up a lot to get him.
01:01First, they traded away fan-favorite, 5'9 point guard Isaiah Thomas. And to just say fan-favorite undersells it.
01:09Thomas finished 5th in MVP voting and led the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals the previous season.
01:15In that postseason run, he played through a chipped tooth, a hip injury, and the absolutely tragic death of his sister.
01:24And the Celtics just traded him away. To get Kyrie, they'd take the PR hit, the morality hit, and any other body blows coming their way.
01:34There was one more big one. They had to throw in their unprotected 2018 first-round pick, which was not something they were willing to part with for other big names on the market.
01:46But Kyrie was gonna be worth it all.
01:49And who was Kyrie going to lead? A fairly talented group Boston brought on Gordon Hayward to complete their big three.
01:56Plus, they had two number three draft picks. For their future.
02:00So, here we go. 2018 season is gonna...
02:05Uh-oh.
02:06But hey, Kyrie was handling the leading man role pretty well.
02:11Uh-oh.
02:12So, that's a disappointing season for Boston fans, right?
02:16Wrong.
02:17Sorry to lead you on like that, but it's the only way I feel alive.
02:21The Celtics almost made the finals thanks to a rookie, a second-year player, subs, and third options.
02:27So, next season, with Kyrie healthy and these guys? Damn.
02:34Quick aside, Kyrie wasn't on the sideline for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals because of deviated septum surgery.
02:41Which didn't sit right with some fans.
02:44That's a minor surgery that could be scheduled for any time, they said.
02:49But, no need to read into that for too long because Kyrie soon went out of his way to say he was re-signing with Boston in free agency the following summer.
02:59This is just a season ticket holder event. It's not an ESPN decision special or anything like that.
03:04I shared it with some of my teammates, as well as the organization and everyone else in Boston.
03:09If you guys would have me back, I plan on re-signing here next year.
03:14Boom!
03:15So, to summarize, going into the 2019 season, Boston's future was blindingly bright, Kyrie liked Boston, and they liked him.
03:25That's not beef.
03:27Why is this a beef history video?
03:29Does she not know what beef is? Does she think it's just food?
03:31No. No, I don't.
03:34This became beef fairly quickly.
03:36It all started in the terrible, terrible 2019 season.
03:40It was a case of too much talent.
03:42The heroes of the 2018 playoffs had to take a backseat.
03:46Terry Rozier was immediately relegated to backup point guard with no questions asked.
03:50Come on, it's Kyrie Irving. Scoot on over.
03:54Jalen Brown went from scoring 18 points per game in the playoffs to losing his starting spot.
03:59Tatum wanted to be the guy.
04:00Why should he have to wait for Kyrie?
04:03And why should Kyrie have to let one happy postseason take away his destiny of not sharing the spotlight?
04:10The Celtic locker room was toxic.
04:12And the guy who was supposed to be their leader just exacerbated the toxicity.
04:17In mid-January, the Celtics found themselves on the verge of losing to the sub-500 Magic.
04:24Kyrie argued with Coach Brad Stevens about the last shot play call.
04:29Perhaps because the ball was going to Tatum and not him.
04:33And Tatum missed, so maybe the veteran leader had a point.
04:37What? What's he doing?
04:39Berating Hayward for passing to Tatum?
04:41Which was likely the play call?
04:44Huh.
04:45Well, look, I'm not going to sit here and say I know how to lead an NBA basketball team.
04:50Post-game, Irving blamed the young guys.
04:53A message he had already delivered through the media on previous occasions.
04:58I, uh, I might know some better ways to lead an NBA team.
05:02Young Celtic Jalen Brown responded, basically saying Kyrie's comments were not helpful.
05:08And maybe that got through to the point guard, because a few days later, Irving said he wasn't going to publicly criticize his teammates again.
05:15But then a few days after that, he called LeBron to apologize because he now saw how hard it was to be a leader to young guys who just don't get it.
05:25Which is, again, publicly criticizing the young guys.
05:28The phone wasn't tapped. Kyrie told the press what he said.
05:32In February, Kyrie was asked if he still planned to re-sign in free agency.
05:37He said he was reconsidering that decision.
05:39He just said it more succinctly.
05:42A couple weeks later, at All-Star Weekend, Irving was caught on tape talking to Kevin Durant in a...
05:47plotting a future super team together type way.
05:52Kyrie denied it all.
05:54So, okay, fine.
05:55Maybe nothing was there.
05:57Let's jump ahead to the playoffs.
05:59The Celtics were bounced in the second round.
06:03Irving played like he was trying to prove he was the team leader, whether it was good for the team or not.
06:08He had more shots than points in the series.
06:11After Game 4, a reporter asked him about his shooting slump, and he replied,
06:15Who cares?
06:16Uh, a lot of people?
06:19I don't know specifically.
06:20I don't know their names.
06:21And after Game 5, Boston had little doubt they'd lost the mercurial point guard.
06:26And well, well, well, what do you know, maybe the media wasn't so terrible for reading into that All-Star Weekend tunnel conversation.
06:35And yes, it's true, they still could have been talking about something else in that tunnel, but they weren't.
06:40Boston fans felt betrayed and livid.
06:44He lied about staying.
06:46Or perhaps changed his mind, but that can count as a lie if you're mad.
06:49He played badly.
06:51And now, all of a sudden, there's a new super team in the East, poised to vault over the Celtics and make them irrelevant.
06:58Kyrie Irving might have just burst their championship bubble.
07:02At the Nets' media day, Kyrie said he failed as a leader in Boston because of the death of his grandfather.
07:08But Celtic Nation didn't let themselves get distracted by death in the family talk.
07:13They were ready for him to return to TD Garden.
07:16It was supposed to happen November 27th, 2019.
07:20But due to an injured shoulder, Irving didn't make the trip.
07:24Which kind of just made fans madder.
07:27Luckily, they found it was still satisfying to chant Kyrie sucks, even if he wasn't there.
07:33And word did get back to the injured point guard, as evidenced by his essay of an Instagram post.
07:39You don't have to read the whole thing.
07:41He kind of calls fans and the media ignorant and obtrusive, and insists he's a person.
07:47Which, okay, yes, fine, fine, that's true.
07:51Irving finally returned to Boston about a year and a pandemic later, for a preseason game.
07:57And he burned sage around TD Garden to cleanse the space.
08:01He said it wasn't personal, he'd done it before, it's part of his Native American heritage,
08:06and actually, he plans to do it before every game that season.
08:10A search of all newspapers printed in the US and Canada during the 2021 NBA season
08:16did not reveal any other instance of Kyrie burning sage before a game.
08:21Boston and Brooklyn met in the opening round of the 2021 playoffs.
08:25Asked about facing the presumably hostile crowd in his return to Boston,
08:29Irving kind of called Celtics fans racist.
08:34Now, Boston fans do have a reputation for being racist,
08:38and there have been some ugly incidents across the city's sports.
08:42Kyrie didn't get into specifics, which is fine and doesn't mean that he didn't experience any specifics,
08:48and the Boston media agreed with that sentiment.
08:52But, they also brought up the idea that maybe he was using the city's reputation
08:57to try and proactively quiet fans.
09:01After all, the Boston Globe points out,
09:03the only time he spoke about racism while he was a Celtic was to say he had not experienced it.
09:09That comment was in March 2019, after a fan was banned for life for yelling slurs at DeMarcus Cousins.
09:16Now, just because it wasn't directed at him doesn't mean it wasn't still offensive and off-putting and terrible.
09:24The, yes, we were racist but not toward you argument is a weak one.
09:29But, Kyrie could still be trying to avoid booze.
09:32It wasn't just the Boston press who doubted Kyrie's motives.
09:36Jalen Brown, the most vocal critic on the team, considered that possibility as well.
09:42Fans were offended either way.
09:44They didn't like being defined by their worst moments.
09:47The plate was set for a beefy series.
09:50Kyrie sucks and F.U. Kyrie chants were the soundtrack of Game 3, the Celtics' first home game.
09:55But Irving said the jeers weren't too bad.
09:58He was cool with it, though his stat line made it look like fans got to him a bit.
10:03Game 4, he played much better in the face of Celtic Nation.
10:06At the end of the game, Kyrie stomped on the Celtics' logo as a sort of revenge taunt.
10:12And then a fan threw a water bottle that grazed Irving's head.
10:16This was bad.
10:18And the city had to admit, yeah, throwing things at players' heads is not great.
10:24Due to refusing a COVID vaccine, Irving didn't return to Boston until about nine months later.
10:29And it seemed fans were like, cool, enough time has passed from the water bottle thing,
10:33we can pretend it didn't happen.
10:35Because they were... unrepentant.
10:38Post-game, Irving likened the city to a scorned girlfriend.
10:42Ignoring the fact that he kind of promised to marry the girl when she didn't even ask.
10:47Okay, 2022 playoffs, we got another Boston-Brooklyn opening series.
10:51Before Game 1, Irving said that Celtic fans should move forward, get over it, it's been three years.
10:57The fans did not take his advice.
11:00Nor did Kyrie himself.
11:02If you've got kids in the room, switch to headphones for this next part.
11:05I'm not a body language expert, so forgive me,
11:08but I believe after hitting this contested shot in the third,
11:11Irving is telling the crowd,
11:13fuck you, I'm better than your beloved Jason Tatum.
11:16And it's not totally clear here in the fourth,
11:20but if I'm reading him correctly, he's saying something like,
11:23fuck you, fuck you, this is not bothering me at all, it would never make me cry.
11:28Post-game, he was more direct.
11:33Unfortunately for Kyrie, it seems all his efforts didn't harm Celtic Nation's morale.
11:38The following season, Irving demanded a trade from the Nets,
11:42also known as the super team that wasn't,
11:45and Boston fans delighted in schadenfreude.
11:48Though it was a shame he was off to Dallas and would be in a different conference.
11:52He's a great villain.
11:54Or was it a shame?
11:56Because the beef was on the big stage.
12:00Before the series, Irving sounded like a different guy.
12:04He took accountability and said he was more mature and better able to handle his emotions now.
12:10Jalen Brown seemed to forgive Irving with an oh well, nobody's perfect shrug.
12:15So, I guess the beef's over?
12:18No way, said Celtics fans.
12:22When the Celtics swept the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals,
12:25fans chanted F.U. Kyrie in anticipation of these finals.
12:29Dallas hadn't even won the Western Conference yet.
12:32Game 1, fans brought a blow-up doll, superimposed with Kyrie Irving's face,
12:38and threw it around the crowd, chanting F.U. Kyrie.
12:41That's a sex doll, right?
12:43I'm not going to Google it.
12:45Irving wasn't great, and it could have been because of the crowd.
12:48Though, Drew Holiday's defense was pretty good, too.
12:52After the game, Kyrie said the crowd wasn't so bad.
12:56Which Boston considered a taunt.
12:58Next game, they put his quote up on the Jumbotron to inspire even more boos and screaming,
13:03and I guess it was implied that nobody should throw anything.
13:07Before Game 5, Kyrie wasn't so quietly repentant.
13:12And then the Celtics won the finals.
13:15It's official.
13:16Their championship bubble was not burst when Kyrie ditched them.
13:19They got the ring while the fickle point guard found his fingers bare year after year.
13:25Except for the ring he got with LeBron, which wasn't what he wanted to be his legacy.
13:31So it seems clear Boston won this beef.
13:34But declaring a winner doesn't end anything.
13:37The winner can gloat.
13:39They're burning a Kyrie jersey in the streets after the 2024 title.
13:44Kyrie will know no peace in or around TD Garden.
13:47He's too good of a villain.
14:07Cool club I'd want to be a part of.
14:09How can I join?
14:10Oh, you have to subscribe.
14:11Oh, right, right, right, right, right, right.
14:12But seriously, thank you for watching.
14:14Whether you subscribe or not, you're great.
14:16I'm Clara Morris for Secret Base.
14:18Good night and good game.