The Boston Celtics made a potentially franchise-altering move on Tuesday evening, investing quite a trade package in order to acquire Kyrie Irving from the Cleveland Cavaliers. Aside from the obvious implications of LeBron James, Isaiah Thomas and the overall 2017-2018 Eastern Conference landscape, the Celtics also have to be concerned with the more distant future with regard to Irving.
Their new star point guard will be an unrestricted free agent in two years, which is an improvement over the impending free agency they faced with Thomas, but giving up a potential top pick for two years of service wouldn’t be too enticing. In fact, that’s what spooked the Celtics out of dealing either of the Brooklyn picks for Paul George at the deadline last year or this summer.
As one would assume, this change of heart regarding the Nets’ picks is rooted in a “strong belief” that the Irving will want to sign long-term with Boston, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Irving thrilled w/ joining Celtics and they'll have great chance to eventually re-sign him. Boston made deal with strong belief he'll stay.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 23, 2017
Obviously, this is anything but a certainty given that Irving has two years (at a total of nearly $39 million) remaining on his contract and a lot can change over that timeframe. Still, it makes more sense that Boston would be willing to include an unprotected 2018 first-round pick (via Brooklyn) in addition to Thomas, Jae Crowder and Ante Zizic in order to lure Irving to the franchise.
Given that Irving will not turn 26 until March, it is reasonable to think that his next contract won’t be as potentially disastrous as many free agents seeking their third deal in the NBA. Still, there is at least some level of uncertainty with Irving’s integration in Boston, especially in light of the other changes the Celtics have made (i.e. adding Gordon Hayward) and the next few months will go a long way toward projecting what Irving’s next deal might look like.
The Celtics believe that Kyrie Irving will be a likely candidate to re-sign and that certainly speaks to their decision to acquire him now after seemingly passing on both Jimmy Butler and Paul George in recent months. Now, only time will tell as to whether that belief will actually come to fruition during the summer of 2019.
