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- May 21, 2026
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Kyrie Irving 'Dreamed' Of Super Team In Boston, Recruited Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Kyrie Irving era did not go as planned d with the Boston Celtics. One year after becoming an NBA Champion, Irving was traded to Boston in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, a first-round pick and other notable role players.
Irving's arrival also coincided with two defining moments in Celtics history: the drafting of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
It was the start of Boston's peak in the 2020s, but not for the reason fans would have assumed. Well over half a decade following the end of his tenure at TD Garden, Irving sat down with ESPN's Tom Bontemps and opened up about his (frankly insane) aspirations in Boston.
"In 2018, it was a dream for Kyrie, AD (Anthony Davis), KD (Kevin Durant) to be on one team and still keep JT (Tatum) and let him grow and then see how it goes," Irving told Bontemps. "But back then, those young guys weren't ready to be in trade rumors, man.
"Our locker room splintered after that once they found out. It wasn't [Jaylen Brown] or JT, but our locker room splintered once they started figuring out the trade rumors, and our season started going in a whole different way."
This is a wild admission. Davis was an All-NBA first-teamer in 2017-18, while Durant and Irving both made the second team in 2018-19.
Irving told ESPN that there were real plans in place to bring all three of the potential Hall of Famers to Boston at the same time.
"We all had that vision to play together in Boston," Irving added. "Danny Ainge had a large responsibility in that, trying to make it happen, make sure I stayed in Boston. But we had some young pieces in JT and JB and if we would have traded either one of them, who knows if they win a championship. So the franchise had to do what was best for them, and I had to do what was best for me."
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