There's no love lost between the Boston Celtics and Kyrie Irving. Despite parting ways nearly two years ago, Cs managing partner, CEO, and Governor Wyc Grousbeck recently went on the record to say that it was Kyrie's departure that led to the team's recent struggles.
In a recent interview with NBC Sports Boston Grousbeck explains why he believes Irving's decision to jump ship continues to have an adverse effect on Boston to this very day:
“We had hoped Kyrie would stay forever and lead us all the way,” Grousbeck admitted. “He's on maybe the best team on the league right now and so that's that. That change touched off a lot of stuff because he left, we weren't maybe able to recruit free agents in the same way, and a bit of a domino effect. But it is what it is. We went for it with Kyrie. We had a good year with him. He tried hard and then he moved on.”
Talk about keeping a grudge, right? Grousbeck tried to be as neutral as he could, but it is clear in his statement above that he continues to rue Irving's decision to leave the Celtics to join Kevin Durant with the Brooklyn Nets in the summer of 2019.
To be fair, Boston still made the Conference Finals last year sans Kyrie. You also have to remember that they also lost him to injury towards the latter part of the 2017-18 season, where they would also make a trip to the East Finals. In the one season they had Irving healthy for a playoff run (2018-19), they were ousted by the Milwaukee Bucks in five games in the second round. Just stating facts here.
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