Kyrie Irving found out he was traded while filming ‘Uncle Drew’, and he was so happy

You probably know, or have seen comedic actor Lil Rel Howery in a few projects, including the movie Get Out, the TV series The Carmichael Show, or the comedy series Friends of the People. But Lil Rel also plays a role in the Uncle Drew movie starring Kyrie Irving, and Howery shared a moment on the red carpet ahead of the Oscars on Sunday about when Irving found out he was traded to the Boston Celtics.

If you needed any more confirmation, Irving was very, very happy to be traded to Boston.

“Imagine this. Imagine you’re going through a table read with somebody. You’re watching SportsCenter as you always do. Like, ‘Man, he wanna leave Cleveland?’ You see him the next day, you don’t say nothing because you don’t know him yet like that. But you’re just looking awkwardly at him, like ‘I wanna ask so bad, man. What’s going on?’

“But then we got to know each other a little bit and I talked to him about it. He was telling me everything. But then the dopest moment was when the trade actually went through. He was so happy man. We were in the middle of a scene. We were shooting a scene. His homeboy comes in, whispers in his ear, and he just runs off the set. We’re filming! He just runs out. We were in the club shooting a scene. He just runs out, so happy. He comes back, everybody’s applauding. And it was a dancing scene. So when you see the movie and he’s like really getting it, that’s him in real life. He was really happy.”

First of all, apparently Kyrie’s got some dance moves we don’t know about.

But second, and more importantly, this scene shows just how much getting this trade done meant to Irving and his career.

Irving sat down for an interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols over the weekend, and he said winning an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics is “something I think about every day.” He’s positioned himself and his team to do so this season.

Irving wanted a new scene, one where he could be the true point guard and decision-maker of a playoff team. He ended up in Boston, the best possible situation after forcing the Cavaliers to trade him.

Even after Gordon Hayward’s season-ending injury, the Celtics jumped out to the top of the East and currently boast the second-best record in the conference behind Toronto. There’s a strong chance Boston makes the Eastern Conference Finals this season, and Irving has much to do with it.

That’s probably why he ran off the set of the Uncle Drew movie, ecstatic to hear he’d been traded to Boston. He knew what he could do if he bet on himself.

He probably saw this all coming.