ESPN insider Stephen A. Smith reports one of the main reasons All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving is leaving the Boston Celtics this summer is because he's being labeled as a “disruptive force.”
Smith brings up how Irving's first year with the Celtics (2017-18), Kyrie was leading the team great and Boston was winning games without any dysfunction behind the scenes.
The Celtics made it to Game 7 of the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals without Irving and small forward Gordon Hayward, but Boston had the No. 2 seed in the East mostly because Irving was leading them during the regular season.
Irving played in 60 games in 2017-18 before undergoing season-ending knee surgery. The Celtics were 41-19 when Uncle Drew played.
“In the end, Kyrie ain't going back to Boston,” Smith said on ESPN's First Take. “Not from what I'm hearing. He's not going back to Boston. And I think a big reason why, you talk about these young guys and everyone's talking about what the disruptive force Kyrie has been…Kyrie's first year was that year (2017-18) and he was leading them and they were doing great.”
Smith also says reintegrating Hayward into the lineup was a struggle all season for the Celtics and that guys like Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum had a problem with taking a back seat to Hayward, who has the closest relationship on the team with head coach Brad Stevens.
If he does in fact leave the Celtics, Irving will reportedly join the New York Knicks or Brooklyn Nets.
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