CHAPEL HILL—Seven years after sitting on the bench with a toe injury in March 2011 and watching his Duke team lose to North Carolina, Kyrie Irving played a game at the Dean E. Smith Center for the first time Friday night.
Irving and teammate Jayson Tatum both suited up for the Boston Celtics in their NBA preseason opener against the Charlotte Hornets on the Tar Heels' home floor, combining for 17 points in a 104-97 defeat. Neither played more than 22 minutes with the Celtics rotating 15 players into the game.
"It’s great to be here in Chapel Hill playing in the Dean Dome, obviously a lot of history, a lot of guys that have played over here," Irving said. "A lot of history has come through this part of North Carolina. I’m nothing but appreciative. You’ve got the best player to ever play our game, Michael Jordan."
Even if he didn't mean it, that may have been a subtle dig at Irving's former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate LeBron James, who he requested a trade to get away from in the summer of 2017. Irving also revealed that he could have spent much more time in Chapel Hill as a college player.
"When I was in high school, there was a time where me and Coach [Roy] Williams had a talk and there was a possible Harrison Barnes and Kyrie Irving package deal that was going to happen, but it never did, never worked out and I ended up going to Duke," Irving said. "All things worked out."
While Irving starred in just 11 games at Duke due to his injury, Barnes was a two-time All-ACC selection at North Carolina and jumped to the NBA after his sophomore year.
While they were back in the Triangle, Irving and Tatum—who spent the 2016-17 season at Duke before Boston made him the No. 3 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft—had dinner with some of Duke's players Thursday night, though they said they couldn't go to practice and the coaching staff was on the road recruiting.
"They have a promising team," Tatum said. "Hopefully they stay healthy and win a championship."
On the court, neither player was particularly sharp Friday, and they combined to go 7-of-21 from the field as the Celtics knocked down just nine of their 47 3-point attempts, with Irving scoring nine points and Tatum adding eight. It was Irving's first game action since March 11 after a knee surgery cut his 2017-18 season short.
The Celtics are widely regarded as the Eastern Conference favorites this year after James left Cleveland for the Los Angeles Lakers in the West. Without Irving, a five-time All-Star, and Gordon Hayward, who severely broke his ankle in the first quarter of Boston's first game last season but returned to the court Friday, the Celtics still came one win away from topping the Cavaliers and earning the right to take on the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.
"It’s scary to think about some of the opportunities that we’re going to have going forward," Irving said. "First things first, we’ve just got to build our stamina and be able to play at a high level consistently.... We’ve got a decent amount of time before the regular season starts, but every day counts."
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