Irving Focused On Winning With Celtics Now, Not Thinking About Future

Just before the start of the regular season, Celtics guard Kyrie Irving said he planned on re-signing with the franchise in the summer if that's the direction they saw fit.

Remember? He said so in front of all these season-ticket holders:

“If you guys will have me back, I plan on re-signing here.” - @KyrieIrving pic.twitter.com/0wDLzuv5WL

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) October 4, 2018

On Friday morning, Irving was asked by reporters if he still had the same plans—he responded by saying "Ask me July 1." Here's part of what he also said, per ESPN:

"At the end of the day, I'm going to do what's best for my career, and that's just where it stands. That's just where it stands. And my focus this season is winning a championship with the Boston Celtics. Obviously, we had goals coming into the season, and the primary goal is to win a championship. So that's where my focus is.

"I still have confidence in Boston and what they can promise for the future and what they have in terms of our pieces. That's what excited me a lot about the beginning of the season, was the opportunity to come into this season and doing what we planned on doing. Set a goal and go after it. And then see what happens at the end of the season. That was the plan before and that's still the plan now. Obviously, Boston's still at the head of that race. So that's just where it stands."

Irving, 26, has a player option for 2019-20, the final year of his current contract; however, it's very likely he'll opt out to become an unrestricted free agent.

The six-time All-Star also made clear he's done letting others' wants and perceptions of him affect his decisions:

"[At the end of the day], like I said, I've spent the last eight years trying to do what everybody else wanted me to do in terms [of] making my decisions and trying to validate through the media, through other personnel, managers, anybody in this business, and I don't owe anybody shit."

In 43 games played this season, Irving is averaging 23.7 points in 32.6 minutes.

​​The Celtics (32-19) play the lowly New York Knicks (10-40, last in Eastern Conference) in Madison Square Garden tonight...

Kyrie Irving acknowledged he sees the Knicks positioning themselves for this summer. Said he respects the organization.

— Jay King (@ByJayKing) February 1, 2019