Kyrie Irving’s desire to leave the Boston Celtics has been a poorly kept secret as free agency approaches, but his reasons for wanting to leave are still a little unclear, aside from Boston’s disappointing season. The Celtics could be in position to be a powerhouse in the Eastern Conference if Irving would commit long-term -- or even short-term on a 1-plus-1 deal, giving Danny Ainge a chance to trade for Anthony Davis and convince everyone to sign on for the future.

Rumors continue to swirl about Irving’s desire to play in Brooklyn, although the Celtics have not received word he is absolutely leaving. But according to Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix, one of the reasons Irving might leave is “his rocky relationship with some of his young teammates," which is worth unpacking on a couple of levels.

First, Irving’s young teammates struggled to fit in around him all season, but they never seemed unwilling to take a step back (with the exception of Terry Rozier, who chafed at his role but also certainly seemed to understand that Irving was the priority). Jaylen Brown repeatedly stressed that he didn’t mind coming off the bench, and his field-goals attempted per game fell a little bit even after an impressive postseason run in 2017-18. Jayson Tatum assumed a smaller role, even though it likely cost him some accolades that would have been attractive to a second-year player. As Tatum noted on a recent podcast, “Everybody wanted to win, everybody wanted to make it work, but I don’t know if we knew how to exactly do that.”

Second, if Irving is concerned about having to play with young players, he doesn’t need to worry -- his return would initiate a massive shake-up for the Celtics. A Davis trade would almost certainly require Tatum. The Celtics wouldn’t re-sign Rozier to be a back-up if Irving stuck around. Other young players -- Semi Ojeleye, Robert Williams, etc. -- would likely be filler in a deal as well. If Irving remained in Boston, the team would look significantly different next year.

Of course, Irving might just want a complete change of scenery, and the chafing with his young teammates might just be a convenient outlet for his frustration. As Mannix notes, it says something about how much he seemingly wants to leave that he would ditch an opportunity to play with Davis, Hayward and Horford -- a team that would almost certainly contend for a title in a suddenly wide-open Eastern Conference (and NBA at large).

The Celtics still don’t know for sure that Irving is leaving, and if he does, maybe his new team will be in a better position to win a title than Boston would have been if he stayed (although the avenues to build that type of team elsewhere aren’t simple). But the decline of the once promising partnership between Irving and the Celtics remains one of the more fascinating subplots of the NBA offseason, and if he heads to Brooklyn, examining it in greater detail will be fascinating once the dust settles.