Danny Ainge Believes Kyrie Irving ‘Certainly Wasn’t’ At Fault For Celtics’ Issues

BOSTON — It was quite a 2018-19 NBA season for the Celtics.

Boston was a favorite to win the Eastern Conference and perhaps with an NBA title with a team that was loaded with talent from top to bottom. But things began to unravel, and Kyrie Irving consistently was looked at as the problem, whether it was Irving calling out his younger teammates or losing temper over why Gordon Hayward didn’t pass him the ball against the Orlando Magic in January.

While it’s easy to pile the blame on Irving, now with the Brooklyn Nets, Danny Ainge won’t.

“The last point guard we had, it didn’t end the way we wanted this year,” the president of basketball operations said Wednesday during Kemba Walker and Enes Kanter’s introductory press conference at Auerbach Center. “But it certainly wasn’t his fault. He was just one piece of this team.”

Ainge admitted he had a “pretty good idea” Irving wouldn’t return to Boston, despite verbally committing to re-sign with the club last October. But now he’s looking forward to the future of the C’s.

And with Walker and Kanter both making strong first impressions with C’s fans, the future indeed seems pretty bright.