Bobby Portis on Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant signing in Brooklyn: ’I knew what was gonna happen in February’

by **bobheckler** Mon Jul 08, 2019 12:15 am

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2019/07/bobby-portis-on-kyrie-irving-kevin-durant-signing-in-brooklyn-i-knew-what-was-gonna-happen-in-february.html

Bobby Portis on Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant signing in Brooklyn: ’I knew what was gonna happen in February’

Posted Jul 7, 2:35 PM

By John Karalis | JKaralis@masslive.com

It has been said in recent days that NBA teams see a line between tampering and interfering.

A team talking to a free agent in the days, weeks, or maybe even months before the official June 30 opening of business is technically tampering, but as long as it’s done in a clandestine way after the season ends, no one complains. This is how the league works.

A team talking to an impending free agent’s representatives when he is still playing basketball, though, is interfering. That’s a problematic line to cross.

There are new questions today about where the Brooklyn Nets fell on this spectrum. We’ve heard already that former Boston Celtics guard Kyrie Irving was a lock for the Nets months ago, but the report was vague. Today, newly signed New York Knicks forward was much more specific in an interview with the Athletic.

“I knew what was gonna happen in February,” he told Mike Vorkunov . “We all knew that (Durant and Kyrie Irving would go to Brooklyn). Everybody knew that. I just don’t think the media knew that. Us basketball players, we all knew that.”

It’s possible Portis is exaggerating, but he did not back down or take the quote back when given the chance. "We all know where they were going. I’m protecting (my sources), but we all knew where they were going,“ he said.

Suddenly, questions will resurface about Irving’s final season in Boston.

Was that surreptitiously recorded conversation between Irving and Durant at the All-Star game in Charlotte actually about free agency after all?

Were the notoriously frayed relationships in Boston’s locker room damaged because Irving’s head and heart were elsewhere?

Was Irving’s performance in the playoffs impacted by a knowledge that he was leaving town as soon as the games were over?

These were all things that seemed to be speculative talk show fodder. However, Portis’ revelation that Irving was out the door while still a member of the Celtics now legitimizes them.

It’s now fair to wonder whether a commitment was given to another team while Irving was a member of the Boston Celtics. It’s fair to look back, for example, at Irving’s oddly nonchalant answers after the worst playoff performances in his life and ask if he simply didn’t care because he knew one foot was out the door.

If Portis is telling the truth, then the tampering/interfering line was crossed. Who knows what, if anything, can be done about it, but it’s clear the NBA has some sort of issue to resolve.

bob

.