Kyrie Irving arrived in Boston as a high-profile free-agent acquisition and played for the Celtics through the 2017–2019 period; his relationship with the fan base was intact enough that, on October 4, 2018, he told a TD Garden crowd, "If you guys will have me back, I plan on re-signing here"—a line fans later invoked after he left [8]. The immediate trigger for fan resentment is dateable: Irving signed with the Brooklyn Nets on July 7, 2019, a decision local commentators and former Celtics publicly framed as a reversal of his 2018 pledge and as justification for boos on returns [2][4]. Paul Pierce explicitly said Irving "deserves [to be booed]" ahead of Irving's November 2019 return to TD Garden, which signaled that media and ex-players would amplify fan reaction rather than diffuse it [4]. Early returns combined audible boos with rapid social-media circulation of clips, creating a feedback loop in which crowd hostility and media coverage reinforced each other [4][12]. The relationship moved from a single grievance (the 2018 promise and 2019 departure) to a pattern in which visible, interpretable acts by Irving during later visits were treated through the lens of that perceived betrayal [8][2].
As of June 2024 the adversarial dynamic is still observable in public settings. Irving, then with the Dallas Mavericks, received loud boos during the 2024 NBA Finals in Boston and in a June 4, 2024 interview said he "wasn't my best self" about past conduct in Boston, an on-record expression of regret [9][12]. High-profile courtside mocking—most prominently a photographed 'Kyrie clown' shirt worn by a courtside fan—circulated during the Finals and underscored that fan derision persisted despite Irving's contrition [11]. There is documented public regret from Irving for specific episodes, but no public record in the collected sources of private reconciliation talks with Celtics leadership or a measurable reversal of fan sentiment [9].
Irving frames the conflict as reciprocal crowd hostility and personal expression rather than deliberate provocation; he has defended specific actions as cultural practice or responses to profanity and alleged racial mistreatment [3][7][1]. He has also publicly expressed regret about particular moments and said he 'wasn't my best self' regarding past conduct in Boston [9].
Many Celtics fans view Irving's Oct. 4, 2018 public comment promising to re-sign as a pledge he later reversed when he signed with Brooklyn on July 7, 2019, and they treat subsequent visible acts as confirmation of disrespect [8][2]. Local coverage documents sustained hostile in-arena reactions (boos, taunts) and describes the language some fans used during returns as extreme [4][12].
Local media and ex-Celtics framed the dispute around a perceived broken promise and judged Irving's visible acts as avoidable provocations; commentators used the Oct. 4, 2018 remark and later incidents to narrate an ongoing adversarial storyline [4][2][5]. This perspective often amplified arena reaction by broadcasting boos and republishing viral video clips [4][2].
As of June 2024 public hostility remained visible: Irving received loud boos during the 2024 NBA Finals in Boston even after he expressed regret for past actions; sources show continued fan taunts and courtside mocking images circulated during the Finals [9][11][12].
The proximate trigger was Irving's July 7, 2019 free-agency signing with the Brooklyn Nets, which fans contrasted with an Oct. 4, 2018 on-record remark in which he said, "If you guys will have me back, I plan on re-signing here"—a contrast repeatedly cited by local media and fans as the core grievance [8][2].
Key documented incidents include the Oct. 4, 2018 re-sign promise (public remark) [8], July 7, 2019 Nets signing [2], Dec. 18, 2020 smudging/sage ritual [3], May 30, 2021 midcourt-logo scrape and water-bottle throw [2][7], and the April 17, 2022 middle-finger gesture captured on broadcast [1][3][2][7][6].
Video circulated showing Irving scraping his sneaker across the Celtics midcourt logo after Game 4 on May 30, 2021; that same night a fan threw a water bottle and was detained, and Kevin Garnett publicly criticized the action [2][7][5].
Yes. During Game 1 of the Nets–Celtics first-round series on April 17, 2022, camera footage captured Irving giving the middle finger to sections of the TD Garden crowd; he later said he was 'returning the same energy' after persistent profanity from some fans [1][6][12].
On Dec. 18, 2020 Irving performed a smudging ritual, explaining: "It just comes from a lot of native tribes. Just cleanse the energy, want to make sure that we’re all balanced," a cultural explanation reported by AP/NBA.com and CBS Sports [3][10].
In a June 4, 2024 interview Irving said, "I wasn’t my best self during that time," specifically referencing the episode in which he flipped off fans and signaling on-record regret for past conduct in Boston [9].
Following the May 30, 2021 logo scrape, a fan who threw a water bottle at Irving was taken into police custody and faced a possible lifetime ban from TD Garden according to local reporting; no public league discipline against Irving for that scrape is recorded in the cited sources [2][7].
The collected sources contain on-record public regret from Irving (June 2024) but do not document private reconciliation talks or a formal reconciliation between Irving and Celtics leadership in the available reporting [9].