Hupu News, September 2 Today, the Celtics held a press conference for new aids Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward. During the period, the two were asked whether they had been in contact before they became teammates. Hayward responded that Irving recruited him to join the Cavaliers a long time ago.
"When I was a restricted free agent, I went to Cleveland once," Hayward said. "Kyrie came to me at that time and told me that if I joined the Cavaliers, we would It will be a lot of fun to play together, it is kind of recruiting me. Then LeBron James announced his return to the Cavaliers, so it messed up our previous plans." This half-joking statement caused the audience to laugh, and Hayward and Irving also laughed. laughed.
Later, Hayward added: "But the tide has turned, and now we are teammates here."
The two later concluded that the recruitment occurred in 2013. James announced his return to the Cavaliers in 2014. In the offseason of the same year, Hayward accepted a four-year, $63 million contract offer from the Hornets, but the contract was matched by the Jazz.
At the press conference, Hayward also praised Irving as "one of the strongest players in the league" and said that the two of them are very destined: "I think this is God's will. Both of our birthdays are March 3. On July 23. "
On July 15, the Celtics officially announced that they had signed Hayward to a four-year, $128 million contract. On August 31, the Cavaliers and Celtics jointly issued an official statement. The Celtics acquired Irving and sent Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and 2018 unprotected players from the Nets. A first-round pick and a 2020 second-round pick from the Heat.
Irving averaged 25.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 5.8 assists in 35.1 minutes per game with the Cavaliers last season; Hayward averaged 21.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 34.5 minutes per game with the Jazz.