With Kyrie Irving Reportedly Gone, What Will the Celtics do this Offseason?

The 2018-19 season for the Boston Celtics was tumultuous. Fans and experts alike pegged them to be Eastern Conference Champions before the season even started. But once things got underway, that presumption became clearer and clearer that it was false.

I am not going to get into all the details about the year, but the C’s failure to reach expectations has created a cloud of mystery heading into the offseason.

The biggest question has to be that of whether or not star point guard Kyrie Irving comes back to suit up in green. Well, according to Ian Begley of SportsNet New York, the indication is that Irving will be in a different uniform next season. What does this mean for Boston? A lot.

If the Celtics no longer have Irving in the fold, the likelihood of them going after Pelicans forward Anthony Davis dips dramatically.

Part of the intrigue of acquiring AD was having the ability to mix both Davis and Irving in a lineup to create a “super team” of sorts. But with no Irving the C’s would have to give up a package of Jayson Tatum and / or Jaylen Brown to get the star forward. Boston would essentially be giving up their two most promising players to get a guy that has shown no interest in having a career in a Celtic uniform.

Then what’s the plan without Kyrie you ask? The only person that truly knows is Boston’s general manager Danny Ainge, but I see the offseason being pretty quiet for the C’s.

Boston has Tatum, Brown, Marcus Smart, and Gordon Hayward to form a solid core. Al Horford is willing to restructure his deal to come back. Marcus Morris has stated he would like to come back. With those six the Celtics would have a formidable team that could accomplish just as much as the team did this past season.

Tatum and Brown will be getting better, Hayward healthier, and Smart / Horford / Morris have all shown the ability to mesh with those players. The Celtics don’t even need to re-sign Morris either. They could instead spend that money on bringing in a point guard like free agents Ricky Rubio or Patrick Beverely. Or they could even give restricted free agent Terry Rozier a chance to start on a team without someone like Irving blocking his path. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see what the offseason has in store, especially after hearing the comments of Danny Ainge today.

-Jarrod Ribaudo (@Jribs53)