Google News Kyrie Irving explains how grandfathers death impacted his decision to leave Celtics
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Kyrie Irving says he was committed to staying with the Boston Celtics but then he lost his grandfather and everything changed. After the 2016/17 season, Irving wanted to be traded and the Cleveland Cavaliers sent the star guard to Boston.
Irving played there for two seasons, before signing with the Brooklyn Nets in the summer of 2019. Before Irving signed with the Nets, he ensured Celtics fans he was committed to Boston. But then Irving - who grew up in New Jersey - wanted to be closer to his family and signed with the Nets.
Irving explains his decision to leave Boston
“I mean, for me, I lost my grandfather my second year in Boston, so it was my first time really losing someone close like that to me, other than my mom and my grandmother when I was young.
So me being in Boston, not being home, not having that emotional support, I really felt alone, even though I wasn’t alone. So I didn’t really connect with everybody as much as I should, and I didn’t open up as much as I should.
The week before my grandfather passed, I was committed to the Boston Celtics, and I wanted to stay here. And then my grandfather passed a week later, and then my whole world shifts after that point, and I don’t think anyone understood it.
Not the Celtic fan base, not the NBA fans, not anybody from afar," Irving told Logan Murdock of The Ringer. Four years have passed since Irving left Boston but Celtics fans haven't yet forgiven the star guard. Whenever Irving is in Boston to play against the Celtics, he receives strong boos and it is not a secret that he has become a very unlikeable personality in the town.
Prior to this year's trade deadline, Irving requested a trade from the Nets, who then traded him to the Dallas Mavericks.
