Irving's Public Re-Sign Promise to Boston Fans

On October 4, 2018 Kyrie Irving addressed a TD Garden crowd during a team event and made an on-record statement about his intentions with the franchise: "If you guys will have me back, I plan on re-signing here" [8]. The remark was captured by local media and circulated by national outlets as part of coverage of Irving's relationship with Boston fans leading into the 2018–19 season [8]. At the time the comment was read as a forward-looking expression of commitment while Irving was an active Celtic; it later became a reference point after Irving left Boston in free agency on July 7, 2019 [2]. The quote is short, plainly worded, and tied to a specific public setting (TD Garden, fan event), which made it easy for fans and local commentators to point to it as evidence of a promise. After Irving's 2019 departure, reporters and commentators repeatedly cited the October 4, 2018 line as the proximate reason Celtics fans felt betrayed when Irving signed with the Brooklyn Nets [2][4]. The remark was not reported as part of a formal contract negotiation or franchise statement; it was a public remark to fans that was later framed by local media and critics as a commitment that was not honored when Irving left in free agency [8].

The Oct. 4, 2018 comment became the foundational grievance in the Irving–Boston fan dynamic because it is a clear, quotable promise made in public and easily compared with Irving's July 7, 2019 free-agency decision to sign elsewhere [8][2]. That comparison allowed media, former Celtics players, and fans to frame later boos and taunts as a response to perceived betrayal rather than isolated reactions to on-court behavior. Because the remark predates the split and is tightly dated, it functions as a recurring reference point in subsequent coverage and fan behavior [8][2].

After the Oct. 4, 2018 quote entered the public record, it was repeatedly cited by Boston media and former Celtics when Irving left in July 2019; that coverage amplified fan expectations and, after the departure, justified negative receptions on returns to TD Garden [2][4]. The line resurfaced in reporting and broadcasts every time Irving returned to Boston, turning a single sentence into a persistent narrative device that shaped how fans and commentators interpreted later incidents, including the 2020 smudging and on-court gestures in 2021–2022 [3][2][1]. There was no documented formal clarification or retraction by Irving tied directly to that Oct. 4, 2018 remark in the sources collected here [8].