NBA Rumors: Was Kyrie Irving’s ‘Tiff’ With Danny Ainge Part Of Celtics Disaster?
It might not be long before we get the full story about Kyrie Irving’s relatively disastrous run with the Boston Celtics.
As everyone expected, Irving elected free agency and instantly become one of the hottest commodities in a wild NBA summer. Perhaps a little more surprising, though, is that it seems like a lock that Irving won’t be re-signing in Boston despite a preseason pledge to return if the C’s would have him back.
So, what the heck happened?
We’re starting to finally learn more about Irving’s time in Boston, with ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan reporting last week that Irving essentially just got sick of Boston.
“He didn’t like living in Boston. He just didn’t,” she said on an ESPN podcast. “By the end, he had issues with Brad (Stevens). By the end he had issues with Danny (Ainge). By the end he had issues with pretty much all of us.”
According to Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher, Irving had a problem with the aforementioned Danny Ainge. While we still don’t know specifics about the breakdown of Irving’s relationship with the Celtics president of basketball operation, it seems some in-season issues might have signaled the beginning of the end.
“No specific reason has been given for his change of heart, although a source close to Irving points to a tiff with team president Danny Ainge about how Irving was attempting to lead the club,” Bucher wrote Monday on Bleacher Report.
Once Irving leaves — it seems like Brooklyn is his most likely destination — it’s possible we learn even more details about his strained relationships in Boston and why an era that started with so much hope and promise fizzled out in a disappointing end that featured more finger-pointing than success.