BOSTON – Kyrie Irving has already clarified his cryptic comments earlier this month involving the Boston Celtics adding a veteran player.
He may not have been talking about anyone specifically, but ex-Celtic Kendrick Perkins thinks maybe he can be the veteran voice Irving alluded to.
How serious is Perkins about coming back?
He has already talked about the possibility with Danny Ainge, the team’s president of basketball operations.
“I did reach out to Danny,” Perkins said on Wednesday at the Sports Museum’s annual gala event at the TD Garden where he was a presenter for one of the honorees, Paul Pierce. “I told him (Ainge), ‘I’m here if you need me.’ He said, ‘You know what Perk? I would love for you to end your career here.’ And I was like, ‘OK, keep me in mind.’”
The Celtics currently do not have an open roster spot to add Perkins, but there's a chance that may change sometime in the near future depending on what the league decides to do following Jabari Bird's domestic violence arrest in September.
Boston Celtics
Perkins, who said he has drawn interest from a couple other teams and will likely have a workout with one of them early next month, said this will be his last NBA season regardless of where he winds up playing.
And if he does return, he said it would be most likely in January on a 10-day contract.
Drafted by the Celtics out of high school with the 27th overall pick in the 2003 draft, Perkins spent eight seasons in Boston – his longest stint with any of the four teams he played for.
That is why if the 34-year-old center had his way, it would be fitting that his final season in the NBA comes as a member of the Boston Celtics.
“This is home away from home,” Perkins said. “This is where it all started at. Every time I come back to Boston, I just feel … great; it’s sunshine, basically.
Perkins added, “It meant everything. You’re playing for one of the great sports towns, period. Playing for one of the best basketball organizations in the NBA. At (that) moment I was in my 20's just playing basketball and not really soaking it in and embracing the moment. Now as I got older, I’m like, ‘damn, I was really on the Celtics.’ Even when I was on the Cavs and came in to play the playoffs, I was like, ‘Man, this was home; this is how it used to be. You don’t find this nowhere else.’”
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