Danny Ainge Debunks Notion That Kyrie Irving Has ‘Ghosted’ Celtics

Kyrie Irving leaving the Celtics seems inevitable, and if that indeed is the case, it sounds like Boston has been kept abreast of that information.

Earlier in the week, a report surfaced from The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach that the point guard had “essentially ghosted” the Celtics recently. Of course, all signs over the past few weeks/months have been pointing to Irving leaving the Celtics for either the New York Knicks or Brooklyn Nets, with the Nets looking like the likeliest destination of late.

While appearing on NBC Sports Boston’s NBA Draft coverage on Thursday, Celts president of basketball operations Danny Ainge indicated that Irving actually has been pretty communicative.

“Kyrie’s been good. He’s returned calls, he’s returned messages, he’s been excellent,” Ainge said. “Kyrie has always been respectful with me. Our one-on-one relationship has been good and he’s been open and honest with me from day one. I have no issues at all with Kyrie. And I think that all the speculation I really don’t pay that much attention to it. So I didn’t even know that they ghosted us was even out there, I had no idea.”

Now, Ainge very well could be bluffing. Only he, Irving and a select few others probably know the truth. And if we read into the comments of co-owner Wyc Grousbeck, it sounds like the franchise is pretty well prepared for Irving and Al Horford to be gone once free agency opens.