It's no secret Kyrie Irving had a difficult time leading a young Celtics team last season, but just how bad was the situation in Boston behind the scenes?
Apparently, Irving's relationship with his teammates was even worse than we thought. On Tuesday, Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated joined Fox Sports Radio to detail the rift between Irving and the young C's, specifically Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier.
“You can write a whole book on what went wrong because the season was basically a disaster from start to finish," Mannix said. "His (Irving’s) relationship with the young players on the roster was awful. Jaylen Brown, he was probably the worst with. I don’t think it was great with Jayson Tatum, and it was awful with Terry Rozier because Terry was supplanted at a position he thought he did enough to win. That created a pretty nasty atmosphere. Kyrie’s leadership skills were lacking, and he failed at it. He was the first player to be coached by Brad Stevens who didn’t really enjoy being coached by Brad Stevens and that relationship wasn’t solid.”
Yikes.
Irving reportedly is "prepared to sign" with the Nets when free agency begins on June 30, and it looks like we have more insight as to why he's rumored to be choosing Brooklyn over Boston. Now, we'll have to wait and see whether fellow veteran Al Horford will tag along.
One thing is for certain: Brown's cryptic Instagram post sure makes a whole lot more sense after hearing Mannix's report.
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