The Boston Celtics’ season started with a lot of promise before fizzling out in spectacular fashion. In a lot of ways, it mirrored the Kyrie Irving era in Boston.
The Celtics acquired Irving in the summer of 2017, a move that was met with excitement and anticipation. Injuries made his first season in Boston a wash, but with a seemingly healthy Gordon Hayward returning for the 2018-19 campaign, expectations were high.
The Celtics never hit their stride, and Irving’s disposition soured despite the fact he pledged to season-ticket holders before the season he intended on re-signing with Boston. That obviously didn’t happen, though. As rumors of Irving’s exit intensified, so did his general displeasure with the situation, and the Celtics’ performance seemed to suffer, too. Ultimately, Irving put everyone out of their misery by signing with the Brooklyn Nets when free agency began.
Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge recently said he knew in March or April that Irving was all but gone, and Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck said Tuesday morning he had a feeling even before then.
“As the season went on,” Grousbeck said on WEEI, “something changed. By February, we thought he was at risk for not coming back and then in June, that’s what happened.”
Grousbeck acknowledged Irving communicated his desire to stay in Boston, but as the Celtics owner said, something changed. Despite that, Grousbeck didn’t sound like he harbored much ill will toward the mercurial point guard.
“It just wasn’t a general air of happiness around the team at the end,” Grousbeck said, stating the obvious. “… he sent me a text the other day, just out of the blue. It was a nice, lengthy text. … He and the Celtics have a positive relationship and we wish him kind of the best, except when we’re playing them.”
Grousbeck added: “I think that he wanted to go back down, his family is in New York and he wanted to be back down there, and we’re going to gear up for the Nets. There are good feelings, but good competitive feelings.”
