With or without Kyrie Irving, the Boston Celtics are poised to contend for championships

The Boston Celtics are poised to contend no matter what decision Kyrie Irving makes with his free agency

Kyrie Irving, a perennial All-Star and a top 10 player in the league, has a tough decision about the direction of his future the summer of 2019. Recently departed from Cleveland, he must decide whether to stay with the Boston Celtics and attempt to have his number raised in the rafters one day and bring further glory to the winningest franchise in NBA history or he can head to New York and try leading a young team in the biggest city of them all. This decision will ultimately come down to more than just money.

It will come down to the legacy that Irving wants to leave behind when he retires from the NBA one day. But, regardless of the decision Irving does in fact make, the Celtics are poised to contend now and to be able to contend for years down the road.

Irving quietly had one of the best seasons of his career, if not the best. In the 60 games that he did play in he averaged 24.4 points per game, while shooting 40% from three, 49% from the field, and 89% from the free-throw line.

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Those are clearly all-NBA numbers, but many of the voters seem to have had the case of recency bias. It is incredible the season that Irving had, especially considering all the criticism he faced during the off-season on whether he can lead a team by himself or not. It’s fair to say now that he certainly can thrive as a leader of the team.

Yet, even with the magical and somehow “forgettable” season Irving did have, It seems like the Celtics barely missed a beat without him. Of course, his impact was deeply felt when the Celtics failed to close out the Cavaliers series two straight games and even in the Milwaukee series when it got drawn out to seven games when the Celtics ideally could have done the job in five. However, two years from now, with or without Irving, it seems really difficult to believe that the Celtics will not be contending for championships.

Even if the Celtics playoff roster was their roster going forward, there would still be a lot of hope and promise that the roster could contend even as soon as next season. Now take that roster and add an all star veteran forward (Gordon Hayward): even that team itself would favorites heading into next season. And for fun, even looking ahead two years from now, take the Celtics team that made it to the conference finals with the addition of a healthy Hayward and add a top five pick in the 2019 draft, which is more than likely happening (The Sacramento Kings 2019 top-1 protected lottery pick).

Just imagine a team built around a core of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, Gordon Hayward, and any of Nassir Little or Cam Reddish or RJ Barrett or a player like Romeo Langford. Not to mention, if Irving does decide to walk in free-agency then the Celtics will have money to spend on any star that becomes free on the market during the 2019 free agency period.

With the rise in cap space and Danny Ainge’s acute eye for trades, the Celtics will surely be able to create enough space for a max-slot, should they so wish to.

At the end of the day, the Celtics can still offer Irving more money than any other team can. Additionally, should the Celtics go on to the NBA finals and even go on to win the title, which looks like a likely outcome at the moment, the Celtics will have created an environment for Irving that would be hard to leave.

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But, moral of the story, whether Irving chooses to stay or to leave, the Celtics will still be in one of the most desirable positions of any team in the league.