It seems pretty evident at this point that the Celtics and point guard Kyrie Irving will go their own ways this summer. And if prior reports weren’t enough to convince you, ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan’s report while appearing on the Hoop Collective podcast (h/t to Alexis Mansanarez of Sporting News) this week should do the trick.
Per MacMullan, by the time this past season ended, Irving had issues with the city of Boston itself, as well as head coach Brad Stevens, general manager Danny Ainge, and teammates Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown.
“I’ve been told this by many people: He didn’t like living in Boston,” MacMullan said. “He just didn’t. By the end, he had issues with Brad. By the end he had issues with Danny. By the end he had issues with pretty much all of us.”
There’s more news from Boston this weekend:
- With Al Horford poised to leave Boston in free agency and Aron Baynes in agreement to be traded to the Suns, the Celtics really need to focus on obtaining some more big men in free agency to help fill out the roster alongside Robert Williams and Guerschon Yabusele, writes A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston.
- Should the Celtics strike out in free agency, a potential back-up plan is to absorb another team’s large, unwanted veteran contract with one season left on their deal in addition to attached future assets, per Brian Robb of Boston Sports Journal. One name that comes to mind is Grizzlies forward Chandler Parsons.
- According to Jonathan Givony of ESPN, free agent guard Aaron Harrison, who last played in the NBA for the Mavericks during the 2017/18 season, will join the Celtics for summer league play. Per Givony, Harrison is coming off an outstanding season in Turkey with Galatasaray, and he looks to be interested in turning that success into another NBA contract.
remember when he said he plans on resigning with boston before the season started.
yea neither do I
You don’t remember it, but you’re still about to bring it up? I feel like there’s a contradiction there somewhere
Sarcasm alert!
Check out that thing that just flew right over your head…
Went over your head buddy
There’s also a missing dash. Irving is resigning from Boston in effect. More specifically he’s not re-signing.
Dear Boston,
Yes, please take Parsons.
Love,
Memphis
If Horford & Baynes leave, they can set their sights on Vucevic & De Andre Jordan or perhaps a youngster like Okafur.
Baynes was traded to the suns on draft night. So he’s kinda gone already.
And Okafor had his option picked up, so he’s a hard no.
Some writers need to keep up. I realize the guy’s a Celtic homer, but it’s hard to imagine that anyone still thinks Memphis (a rebuilding team, already without a 1st in the next two seasons) would do anything but laugh at the notion that they are going to give up future assets to get rid of Parsons’ now expiring (harmless) contract.
Exactly. They waited this long. Now it’s actually an asset as an expiring deal.
Spot on. There is a better chance of Parsons getting the Grizzlies first round pick BACK by taking on Hayward’s contract.
Parsons and the Grizzlies first for Hayward seems like a completely logical deal for both sides.
Bostonians must wake up in the morning having dreamed of receiving some sort of compensation.
Wonder if compensation for the Parsons deal could involve removing or lessening the protections on the pick owed to the Celts. Grizz would really have to hate Parsons to do that, though.
Its so wild how the Rockets and Celtics have all but imploded after weeks earlier, thinking they were going to be top billing landing sports for big name FAs and trade destinations. What a bizarre offseason and it’s only going to get weirder I think…
I wonder if something could be worked out around Tristan Thompson, JR Smith’s contract and Dellavadova. All 3 are expiring contracts. For Hayward, Yabusele and maybe a 1st rnd pick? They would create about $12 mil in cap space when they cut Smith before June 30.
“kyrie can go walk off the flat earth” boston fans
Here comes the inevitable Boston media smear campaign for the next player leaving town. Jackie MacMullan is the queen of smear. YES, the Boston media is most certainly a BIG reason why players don’t want to play in Boston. Talk about shooting yourselves in the foot. I bet Jackie is already hard at work on an article to make Horford look like a cancer. It happens every time.
name the last player refusing to sign with the celtics? kg, ray allen, paul pierce, shaq, horford.. isiah thomas begging to return. keep drink milk
Let me tell You Gordon is going to the All Star Game. He is not going to be Traded. We are getting an All Star Center from Last Year to come Play for Us From Orlando. We will make a qualifying offer to scary Terry if someone Matches it then we go from there. Since Phx only has 14 mil. I really don’t see anyone going more than that. Philly will lose two stars. The Finals MVP is going to the Clippers so I see the Celtics in The ECF. We may EVEN Sign Brogdon to an offer sheet since we are now into signing character guys. The summer has just begun. Danny May be down but he is not out. I hope Irving has to beg to come back. 50 mil is a lot for KD to walk away from. Only an idiot could not play for Brad. And Kyrie thinks the earth is flat so he must be one. I take Brown in a debate any day.
Boy you completely lost it!!! Must be sad to be a Celtic fan… so we will let you rant about how Boston is about to enter a long rebuild… anyway you can always enjoy Bucks & Sixers dominating the EC for the next few years my friend! ;-)
Rebuild? Buhahaha. We’ll be in Finals. You’ll be playing golf
So Kyrie Irving did not like living in Boston? Does anyone really think then he would like living in Brooklyn? If where he lives plays a big factor you have to think Los Angeles is a much more serious contender than everyone is glad to believe.
Kyrie bought a new house in New Jersey after the season ended
Are you guys planning on publishing a “2019 Offseason Trades” post which summarises all the deal made so far during the offseason?
Yeah, there’s an in-season tracker, no off-season.
There’s the Crabbe trade, the Conley trade, and the Davis trade, the last two of which should have been on the in-season trade tracker page! Thay were set up in February but one of the parties chickened out and the inevitable had to wait.
Irving’s going to walk away from Boston like in the movies, not looking back while everything is blowing up and on fire behind him.
But figuratively of course. I mean he didn’t like Cleveland either but it’s still there.
Aside from Hordford leaving, I think the biggest revelations for the Celtics in 2019 are that Brad Stevens can’t coach superstars and Danny Ainge should probably just hold onto his President title and relinquish the GM portion, so the Celtics can hire some new blood who can get deals done.