Chris Mannix won’t rule out Kyrie Irving leaving Celtics (podcast)

Nobody had any concerns about Kyrie Irving potentially leaving the Celtics after this season…until they did. It all began back in early June when Celtics play by play man Mike Gorman told CLNS Media that it “wasn’t a given” Irving would return to Boston while on the Celtics Beat podcast. Yahoo’s Chris Mannix then poured gasoline on the fire by saying that Irving might strongly considerthe New York Knicks as a free agent next season.

Mannix appeared as a guest of Jeff Goodman on the “Good N’ Plenty” podcast this week and is says he still believes anything can happen this offseason regarding Kyrie.

“Look, as an unrestricted free agent I think Boston is still in a front-running position because of the team they have, and that fifth year they can throw out there in that contract, which will be huge for a player coming off the knee surgery he had,” said Mannix. “I don’t think it’s a fait accompli that Kyrie resigns with Boston. I think there’s probably going to be a recruitment period as well before he decides anything.”

It’s been reported in the weeks since the initial reports that Irving is very happy in Boston and this is as close a team as any have seen. But Mannix says the issue with Kyrie, and trying to understand his thinking, is that no one really knows him at all.

“He’s very much a lone wolf,” Mannix told Goodman. “Look, he’s well-liked in that Celtics locker room like he was well-liked in that Cavaliers locker room. I’m not sure that there are a lot of players in either locker room that could connect with him. He’s not a bad teammate. It’s just that there isn’t that – Isaiah Thomas, not everyone loved playing with Isaiah Thomas either, but he could connect with a lot of people in that locker room. Kyrie is just a different cat out there.”

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