Kyrie Irving explains factors that led him to leave Celtics

Kyrie Irving made his first public comments since signing with the Brooklyn Nets on the team's media day at the Barclays Center and revealed a number of new layers that led to his decision to leave Boston this summer.

The point guard alluded to the death of his grandfather in October as an event that sent his personal life into a bit of tailspin for much of the season just weeks after he publicly committed to Boston for the long-term.

“Nine months ago, I was sitting in front of the Boston crowd saying I wanted to re-sign," Irving said. "After that, a lot of things happened in my personal life that really changed the landscape of how I felt about the game of basketball and actually playing it in a team environment. And that really affected me as a human being. I didn’t share it with anyone, I didn’t want to come out and say that this is bothering me or I’m in a depression at this point of dealing with the death of my grandfather, so when all this happened and the NBA and the pressures I put it in quotations from this basketball game came into free agency and what I was doing with my future, I wanted to dispel all those things, but I don’t think I did it the right way about being honest of how I feel.”

When pressed about what factored into his decision to leave Boston, Irving went into a four-minute explanation about how things changed from his initial arrival in Boston in August 2017 to this past season.

"I think around (the time I told the Garden crowd I planned on re-signing), it felt incredible, in terms of the energy that we were building, especially for the future in Boston. It was something that I couldn’t really explain at the time because, personally, I don’t think I was acknowledging the things that were surrounding my life as well. And how to lead this group of guys that I had been traded to -- I wasn’t drafted by Boston, I had no type of affiliation with Boston before I left Cleveland. There weren’t any words, anything that happened, Boston was a surprise team, with [owner] Wyc [Grousbeck] and [president of basketball operations] Danny [Ainge], that took the chance on trading for me. And, when they did, and the way our first season happened, and also the way the end of the season happened, and having so much youth and so much exuberance and goals set personally, I think that some of the actual knowledge that needed to be had, in terms of being a championship team, takes more than just two years. It takes more than just an environment that you feel just comfortable in. Hey, I think I want to re-sign here, if you guys have me -- Boston crowd was immense. It was crazy. They loved me in Boston, I loved the Boston fans.

"Then, two weeks later, things just got really really rocky for me in terms of when I left, I believe you know, after the Phoenix [game], I went to my grandfather’s memorial, and he passed on Oct. 23 and, after he passed, basketball was the last thing on my mind. A lot of basketball and the joy I had from it was sucked away from me. There was a facial expression that I carried around with me throughout the year. Didn’t allow anyone to get close to me in that instance, and it really bothered me. I didn’t take the necessary steps to get counseling or get therapy or anything to deal with someone that close to me dying. I’ve never dealt with anything like that. So, for me, I responded in ways that are uncharacteristic and, like I said, I had to acknowledge that fact. And I had to acknowledge that fact to the organization first. Because that was our internal bond and trust that we had.

"I talked to Danny, I wanted to re-sign. So throughout the year, it started becoming more and more clear that my relationship within my home life has way higher precedence than the organization or anyone and I barely got a chance to talk to my grandfather before he passed, from playing basketball. So you tell me if you would want to go to work every single day knowing that you just lost somebody close to you doing a job every single day that everyone from the outside or anyone internally is protecting you for. Like, ‘Hey, just keep being a basketball player.’

"So, throughout that year, it just became rocky and a lot of the battles that I thought I could battle through from the team environment, I just wasn’t ready for. And I failed those guys in a sense that I didn’t give them everything that I could have during that season, especially with the amount of pieces that we had. My relationships with them, personally, were great but in terms of me being a leader in that environment and bringing everyone together, I failed. For me, it’s like just a huge learning experience just to slow down and acknowledge that I’m human in all this. Then also take my steps going forward as reaching out to Danny and talking to those guys, and Wyc, and reaching out to them and letting them know, ‘Hey, look, basketball is [inaudible] tomorrow. I care about you guys as human beings. I know this is a competitive environment but let’s move past this and let’s go forward.

“Marcus [Smart], Terry [Rozier], all those guys just want to be great. We were all internally trying to be great and I don’t think we were trying to be great as a team to meet at the top. And that happens in human environments all the time, whether people want to admit it or not. There are personal goals that everyone has, family, friends, media, telling everyone, ‘Hey, you need to be doing this, you need to be doing that.’ In actuality, none of that crap matters. So everyone has a role to play. And you see the most experienced teams end up winning the championships because they all buy in and they sacrifice. It’s usually the oldest teams in the league that make it there every single year because they don’t have to deal with the same youthful expectations that are unrealistic for players that really have to earn different things in this league to be at that level -- including myself.”

BSJ Analysis

As with everything that occurs in Irving's orbit, there was a lot of ground covered in this presser. The acknowledgment of his failure as a leader was obvious to everyone but this was the first hint of regret that we've heard from the All-Star about how things finished up in Boston. That's something I wasn't sure we would ever hear from this guy given how he handled his postgame pressers last season. There was some accountability here, even though it came too late.

While it's important to be sympathetic to Irving's personal situation surrounding the death of his grandfather, putting the onus of his change in switching teams may be deflecting a bit. He covered a lot of ground in his four-minute response but never really got to the heart of the matter. Anyone who has regularly listened to Irving's press conferences over the years should not be surprised by this.

From Boston's perspective now, it all doesn't mean much. Irving painted the front office into a corner with his preseason commitment. His failure to be upfront with them about his future obviously left them with big holes to fill this offseason. Whether or not the Celtics would have pulled the trigger on a trade involving their star if the was more upfront with them is going to be a fascinating 'What if?' for a long time. Yet, the locker room volatility that Irving brings is now out the door. He already talked about finishing his career in Brooklyn with Kevin Durant in the same presser, making this the third team he has committed to staying with long-term. The Celtics had hoped to be that team (with Durant in tow) but now they return to reclaiming the identity of their head coach and an underdog All-Star in Kemba Walker. Irving gets a fresh start and avoids the carnage he leaves behind but his explanations today won't lessen the disdain C's fans have for him when he eventually arrives at the Garden in November.