Irving blasts dissection of video with Durant: 'It's just crazy'
Warning: Story contains coarse language
It appears all was not as it seemed in the video of soon-to-be free agents Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, which was recorded in a tunnel at the Spectrum Center on Sunday.
Irving is seen showing two fingers - which many interpreted as him referring to the two max slots a handful of teams will have available - but the Boston Celtics All-Star shut down the notion that the conversation was about the players joining forces this offseason.
Kyrie didn’t just tell Durant “two max slots,” right? Right??? pic.twitter.com/C6Z2sEKMHz
— Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) February 19, 2019
"Somebody who was - I don't have a private life when I'm out there in the NBA. Somebody wants to take a video and, I mean, it is what it is," Irving said on Wednesday, according to The Athletic's Jay King. "Pour water on it? I'm a human being talking to another best friend of mine. Like, it's just crazy.
"This is the stuff that just doesn't make the league fun. Like, it doesn't make the league fun. Nobody helps promote the league even more by doing bullshit like that, of just fictitious putting things on what we're talking about. It's just, it's crazy. I guess that's what you wanted, huh?"
Both Irving and Durant have been linked to the New York Knicks, who recently cleared up more cap space by moving Kristaps Porzingis to the Dallas Mavericks for expiring contracts.
"That's where we started off the conversation. What I do with my life is my business. So it's none of yours, it's not anybody's business, right? So it's a video of me and one of my best friends talking, and then it turns out to be a dissection of a free-agency meeting," added Irving. "Do you get that? Like, do you get that? And then I'm asked about it? That's what disconnects me from all that shit.
"Like, because I have no connection to that. Over a video? I'm asked a question about the fans, and you brought up the fans? Come on, man. You do it for the likes and clicks. Everybody does. Everybody wants to hear me talk like this. Everybody wants to hear an athlete talk about bullshit like this. A video, though? To pour water on it? It makes no sense. It just makes no sense. It's not real life."
Irving said prior to the start of the regular season that he planned on re-signing with Boston, but recently sounded less certain about his future when he told reporters, "I don't owe anybody shit," ahead of a game against the Knicks.
He's currently in the fourth season of a five-year, $94.3-million contract with a $21.3-million player option he'd need to turn down to enter unrestricted free agency. Durant is making $30 million this year with the Golden State Warriors and has a player option of $31.5 million in 2019-20.