Kyrie Irving addressed the rumors about his impending free agency in New York this morning, but didn’t sound as committed to Boston as he did earlier in the year.

“Well, at the end of the day I’m going to do what I feel is best for my career, and that’s just where it stands," he said. "My focus this season is winning a championship with the Boston Celtics. Obviously we had goals coming into this season, and the primary goal is to win a championship. So that’s where my focus is.”

When asked directly if his mindset had shifted about re-signing with Boston, Irving responded with a terse “Ask me July first.”

It may be an unsettling thing for Boston Celtics fans to hear after his declaration earlier this season that he was planning on re-signing with the Celtics. When asked about the commitment he made at the pre-season fan fest, he said “I think it was just the excitement, feeling emotionally invested coming off an injury last season trying to prove something, trying to be very much of a team-oriented player, which I am naturally. But at the end of the day I 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 s---. So for me, I think the confidence I have in myself and my abilities, I want to be able to control what I want to control.”

As the media availability wore on, his stance seemed to shift a bit, and he did say that Boston was still his top destination.

“I still have confidence in Boston and what they can promise for the future and what we have in terms of our pieces," Irving said. "That’s what excited me a lot about the beginning of the season was the opportunity to come into this season really just 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 is still at the head of that race. That’s just where it stands.”

He ended his meeting with reporters expressing his annoyance with the entire situation, saying “this is a new position for me to be in, answering all these questions, seeing all this stuff that I’m trying to avoid, and it’s just a distraction.

“It’s crazy how stories and things and storylines can seep into a locker room,” he continued. “You guys are part of the destruction of locker rooms. That’s just what it is. This is an entertainment industry. I don’t live for this entertainment. I don’t live for this talking to everybody every single day about my life and my decisions. I would just hope that everybody would respect that. That’s really basically it. I’m a normal human being at the end of the day. I don’t want to answer all these questions about my future all the time.

“You know, it’s unfair to me, because I have a focus to really help these guys grow as individuals and really help this team be successful. When it starts getting out of hand and people start getting attacked personally, he-said, she-said, that’s so fifth-grade and elementary. This industry is just so F’d up. Like, it’s my decision at the end of the day. Who cares who says what’s best for him. It doesn’t matter. It’s unwarranted commentary and of course it’s still going to continue throughout the season. I’m aware of that. I’m a professional at the end of the day. I’m not going to disrespect anybody, but like I said, it really comes down to what’s best for me and my family.”