Thursday night, Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks clinched a spot in the NBA Finals, setting themselves up for a matchup against his former team, the Boston Celtics.
The 32-year-old would be making his fourth appearance in the NBA Finals and will be squaring away against a talented Celtics team, as this is the first time Dallas and Boston will have met in the Finals in NBA history.
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Irving's Return
Kyrie Irving was traded to the Boston Celtics in 2017 after an epic run in Cleveland, during which he had won a championship with the Cavaliers.
Upon arrival, Irving was met with tons of fanfare, as there was optimism about how good Boston was with Kyrie joining a young Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown at the time.
However, things would sour quickly in Boston, and eventually, he would depart for the Brooklyn Nets in free agency.
Overall his tenure in Beantown was short, as the All-Star point guard was only a member of the Celtics from 2017 to 2019.
Irving had recently opened up about his time in Boston in an interview.
"I'm at a place in my life where I don't even consider those past moments," he said via Sports Center.
"I was able to unpack them in a healthy way, and move forward as a person."
Irving also spoke on his grandfather's death, "I had a rough time there when I was in Boston, again, just dealing with a death in my family and dealing with a lot of off-court stuff that I wasn't ready to handle. So now that I'm in a great place to be able to vocalize how I'm feeling, I'm ready to go back into Boston, have fun with my teammates. I know we're going to be locked in."
This year's NBA Finals would mark the first time the Boston Celtics ever played the Dallas Mavericks in a Championship series. Bringing Irving's journey through the Celtics and now with the Mavericks full circle.
Prior to joining Dallas, Kyrie Irving had high championship expectations in both Boston and Brooklyn, on a Nets team with James Harden and Kevin Durant; runs that both crashed and burned.
Now with the Mavericks he could possibly win it all alongside fellow superstar Luka Doncic.
"We're going against a great Boston team that has earned their way to the NBA Finals," Irving noted.
"So I just see them as a formidable opponent, an honest opponent, and we're going to see the best team that wins."
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