Why didn't Kyrie tell Ainge he's leaving?

[ozgod]

How do we know he didn't? Pretty sure if Ainge thought he was staying he wouldn't be wasting time trying to figure out deals for Kemba etc.

Now Kyrie telling Ainge is not the same as telling us. We're not part of the need-to-know when it comes to that. Not at this point of the discussion anyway.

Because this time of the year is always high drama I feel we always make the mistake, as viewers, of thinking we know all the information available. I try to be careful to differentiate between verifiable reported information that can be considered factual, vs opinion and speculation. It's a pain because the same source can be responsible for both types of data out there e.g. Stephen A has sources than can be considered credible but he also has a job to speculate and provide his opinion. Or you can just roll with it and believe what you hear, pretend it's an Avengers movie and just have fun with it 

This is kind of like a Rorshach test where, in the absence of conclusive information people will believe what they want to believe. The Kyrie haters will believe he just ghosted Ainge and didn't even bother breaking up by text, because that's something a degenerate like Kyrie would do, and it was reported as well. The Kyrie apologists will say that Ainge has said that Kyrie has been up front and professional and forthright during all their communications, and Ainge has no reason to lie, and besides it was reported as well.

[footey]

Everyone knows he’s not coming back. Including Danny. My guess is that they’ve already had that conversation.

If the Kemba Walker rumors are true, I’m sure the team-coaches, players and management-prefer Kemba to Kyrie.

[Bobshot]

My understanding of the complicated deadlines is nobody can talk about anything until tonite, and nobody can sign anything until tommorrow afternoon or night, or whatever.

Up until now, there  was not supposed to be any contact of teams with FAs or their agents. But judging from all the media speculation, there had to be contacts behind the scenes.

The League needs to simplify this process, and make it transparent. Free agency should just start a day or two after the draft, and let it go at that.

[Wretch]

An interesting tidbit from the Bill Simmons/Mark Stein podcast was that the Celtics found out KI was leaving because he was texting other players and recruiting them into another max slot.

That to me means 2 things, KI hasn't been communicating honestly with the Celtics and DA wasn't going to throw KI under the bus and for the Celtics to find out another player must have shown them the texts. My guess is Al showed DA what KI was doing.

[bellerephon]

My understanding of the complicated deadlines is nobody can talk about anything until tonite, and nobody can sign anything until tommorrow afternoon or night, or whatever.

Up until now, there  was not supposed to be any contact of teams with FAs or their agents. But judging from all the media speculation, there had to be contacts behind the scenes.

The League needs to simplify this process, and make it transparent. Free agency should just start a day or two after the draft, and let it go at that.

I think they can start negotiating on Sunday, but can't sign anything until the 6th.

[Green-18]

An interesting tidbit from the Bill Simmons/Mark Stein podcast was that the Celtics found out KI was leaving because he was texting other players and recruiting them into another max slot.

That to me means 2 things, KI hasn't been communicating honestly with the Celtics and DA wasn't going to throw KI under the bus and for the Celtics to find out another player must have shown them the texts. My guess is Al showed DA what KI was doing.

It's funny how Kyrie claimed that his biggest frustration was having his name connected with other free agents.  He wanted to be left alone and treated as his "own man".  I really hope he ends up in Brooklyn.  The intensity of those games is going to be insane!

[chiken]

One theory

He recruits in the dark hoping to build a nice team.. If he lands something he leaves... IF he doesn't (like Say the KD stays GS, the Lakers land in Russel and the Nets Decide that KYRIE alone is not worth it...) He'd then be left with the Knicks (alone forever) or (drumroll)  He can then go back to Boston because he never said he was leaving...

[Ogaju]

One theory

He recruits in the dark hoping to build a nice team.. If he lands something he leaves... IF he doesn't (like Say the KD stays GS, the Lakers land in Russel and the Nets Decide that KYRIE alone is not worth it...) He'd then be left with the Knicks (alone forever) or (drumroll)  He can then go back to Boston because he never said he was leaving...

Finally, Kyrie's 'talk to me on July 1' strategy exposed.

Tank playoffs. Check

Take step to become FA. Check

Recruit the heck out of other players to destination team during quite period. Check

Leave option open to return to Boston if recruiting fails. Check

[Boris Badenov]

An interesting tidbit from the Bill Simmons/Mark Stein podcast was that the Celtics found out KI was leaving because he was texting other players and recruiting them into another max slot.

That to me means 2 things, KI hasn't been communicating honestly with the Celtics and DA wasn't going to throw KI under the bus and for the Celtics to find out another player must have shown them the texts. My guess is Al showed DA what KI was doing.

It's funny how Kyrie claimed that his biggest frustration was having his name connected with other free agents.  He wanted to be left alone and treated as his "own man".  I really hope he ends up in Brooklyn.  The intensity of those games is going to be insane!

First meeting at the Garden: everyone feeds Kemba all game, and he hangs 60 on Irving in a blowout.

[SparzWizard]

An interesting tidbit from the Bill Simmons/Mark Stein podcast was that the Celtics found out KI was leaving because he was texting other players and recruiting them into another max slot.

That to me means 2 things, KI hasn't been communicating honestly with the Celtics and DA wasn't going to throw KI under the bus and for the Celtics to find out another player must have shown them the texts. My guess is Al showed DA what KI was doing.

It's funny how Kyrie claimed that his biggest frustration was having his name connected with other free agents.  He wanted to be left alone and treated as his "own man".  I really hope he ends up in Brooklyn.  The intensity of those games is going to be insane!

First meeting at the Garden: everyone feeds Kemba all game, and he hangs 60 on Irving in a blowout.

Got a feeling the TD Garden is gonna be a hostile crowd when Irving returns as a visitor. Public enemy number 1?

[nickagneta]

Perhaps Kyrie already told Ainge and Ainge has moved on but just hasn't graced us with that info? It sure appears Ainge is deep into plan C or D and so has moved on from Kyrie. I think Ainge may have moved on from Horford as well.

Or maybe Ainge found out through other means that Kyrie is gone and then moved on. The recruiting text stuff could be how he found out, though not sure on the veracity of that.

Or perhaps, Kyrie will do what Gordon Hayward tried to do, tell his old team that he will be leaving before officially letting his new team know he will be joining them. Remember, Hayward wanted to let Utah know but the info leaked out before he could do it. Everyone had figured for weeks that Hayward to Boston was a sure thing, but Hayward still didn't let Utah know until after he had an official sit down with Boston that he was leaving.

Yes, the situations are slightly different as Gordon was still listening to Utah's proposal but it shows that players do sometimes wait until after meeting with their new team before letting the old team know they are moving on.

I don't see that Kyrie not informing Ainge he won't be returning is any type of big deal or is a reason to lob further hate his way, especially when we don't know for sure that he hasn't already done so.

There is lots of reason for people to be angry with Kyrie:

* His poor leadership
* His terrible performance against Milwaukee in the playoffs
* Fighting against the Stevens' directions and coaching
* Being a major part of the team's poor chemistry this year
* His type of game(I don't get this one as so many that claimed they hated his game and fit were the same people that loved IT)
* He replaced the beloved Isaiah Thomas
* His quirky personality

But, this....this is no reason for consternation. He may already have told Ainge he is gone and it's also very common for players to not let their former teams know they aren't moving on until the player verbally commits to their new team in person anyway.

[celticsclay]

I dont get it. Were 24 hours from the free agency. Kyrie knows where he is going. The classy thing to do is let the team know do they can move on. I get that at this point its an obvious he's leaving, but he could h w told ainge a while ago and he could have operated accordingly..

This whole "maybe I am, maybe I won't" thing was a scam basically middle finger to ainge

I’m confused, was there a story about this? Apologies if I missed it, but how do we know he hasn’t already directly told ainge this

[SparzWizard]

I dont get it. Were 24 hours from the free agency. Kyrie knows where he is going. The classy thing to do is let the team know do they can move on. I get that at this point its an obvious he's leaving, but he could h w told ainge a while ago and he could have operated accordingly..

This whole "maybe I am, maybe I won't" thing was a scam basically middle finger to ainge

"Ask me July 1st" he said.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[celticinorlando]

I do not think Ainge even cares. I am pretty sure he has moved on from him a long time ago...

Don't think anyone in Boston from ownership on down wants him back anyway.

[Ogaju]

Perhaps Kyrie already told Ainge and Ainge has moved on but just hasn't graced us with that info? It sure appears Ainge is deep into plan C or D and so has moved on from Kyrie. I think Ainge may have moved on from Horford as well.

Or maybe Ainge found out through other means that Kyrie is gone and then moved on. The recruiting text stuff could be how he found out, though not sure on the veracity of that.

Or perhaps, Kyrie will do what Gordon Hayward tried to do, tell his old team that he will be leaving before officially letting his new team know he will be joining them. Remember, Hayward wanted to let Utah know but the info leaked out before he could do it. Everyone had figured for weeks that Hayward to Boston was a sure thing, but Hayward still didn't let Utah know until after he had an official sit down with Boston that he was leaving.

Yes, the situations are slightly different as Gordon was still listening to Utah's proposal but it shows that players do sometimes wait until after meeting with their new team before letting the old team know they are moving on.

I don't see that Kyrie not informing Ainge he won't be returning is any type of big deal or is a reason to lob further hate his way, especially when we don't know for sure that he hasn't already done so.

There is lots of reason for people to be angry with Kyrie:

* His poor leadership
* His terrible performance against Milwaukee in the playoffs
* Fighting against the Stevens' directions and coaching
* Being a major part of the team's poor chemistry this year
* His type of game(I don't get this one as so many that claimed they hated his game and fit were the same people that loved IT)
* He replaced the beloved Isaiah Thomas
* His quirky personality

But, this....this is no reason for consternation. He may already have told Ainge he is gone and it's also very common for players to not let their former teams know they aren't moving on until the player verbally commits to their new team in person anyway.

There is a lot of reason for people to be angry at Kyrie which you articulated in your post, but I believe that the singular reason Boston fans are taking this one angrily is because Kyrie has single-handedly derailed years of championship planning by Danny Ainge.

It is a known fact that the NBA is a star driven league, and the fortunes of a team can be turned positively by one star player signing. If this is the case then a star player leaving can likewise turn the fortunes of a team negatively. Signing Kyrie Irving was a building block in Ainge's master plan. For the plan to succeed it required Kyrie to be ALL IN and not wavering. It was all good when Kyrie followed the script and committed openly before the fans last October. Once he began his antics of publishing his apology call to James. and refused to restate his commitment even going to the extent of saying he did not own anybody anything. The rails began to come off Ainge's master plan. Any chance at AD, ANY AT ALL, required Kyrie to be on board with the Celtics, yet there he is flirting with KD and NYC, even the Lakers thought they had a chance. Dont get me wrong he has a right to be a free agent, but it is also a fact that his exercise of that right derailed YEARS of planning by Danny Ainge. This is the single most important reason why the fans turned on Kyrie. He single-handedly torpedoed the master plan.