Over the past couple of months, Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge has been confident about re-signing All-Star guard Kyrie Irving. In fact, However, that no longer seems to be the case at this point.
Irving is set to become a free agent and there are reports that he's already narrowed down his preferred destination this summer to either the Brooklyn Nets or the Los Angeles Lakers. However, Ainge hasn't given up on him yet. The veteran executive said that they're still in constant communication with Kyrie regarding his future, but there's no guarantee that he'll stay in Boston.
Danny Ainge said there’s not much he can say about Kyrie Irving’s future but there are ongoing conversations. He said he doesn’t know if anything roster wise would make the Celtics more attractive to Irving.
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) June 5, 2019
The Celtics lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round of the playoffs despite winning the series opener. Irving struggled mightily in that series, particularly on the offensive end. In Games 3-5, he took at least 20 shots but didn't even make half of them.
Irving was traded to the Celtics back in 2016 and the consensus around the league was it was his time to lead his own team to the championship. Kyrie played several years under LeBron James' shadow when they were with the Cleveland Cavaliers, so there were high expectations from him when he moved to Boston.
Article Continues BelowHe became the best player and a leader of a talented team, but he still failed to lead them to a championship. There were multiple occasions where he criticized his teammates for not knowing how to play championship basketball, and from that point, things started to slowly but surely fall apart.
At this point, it seems that it's already a foregone conclusion that Irving will be leaving the Celtics.
As to what team he'll join next, that remains to be seen.
Free agency is less than a month from now, so it won't be long before we all find out.