The seeds of Kyrie Irving’s Boston departure were planted long before he agreed to sign with the Nets on June 30.

Apparently, as early as December.

“The first time he reached out was maybe like December in terms of just loosely talking about it,” Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie said on The Athletic’s Back to Back podcast. “He was obviously still super focused on his season and everything. But you could tell from his conversation that it was on his mind and obviously free agency was coming up and that’s kinda what it was. Just asking a friend about his current situation what he thought.”

It took several more months for Danny Ainge to reach a definitive conclusion.

As the Celtics introduced Irving’s replacement, Kemba Walker, Ainge gave a straightforward answer as to Irving’s status late in the year.

“I think we had a pretty good idea in March or April,” Ainge said on Wednesday, per MassLive. “Not for sure though, not certain. But I was obviously thinking a move in a different direction at that point, thinking of the different options.”

Irving was at the root of chemistry issues in Boston last season, and Ainge took a parting shot at him when the Celtics introduced their draft picks last month. On Wednesday, he indicated that Irving wasn’t in his plans whatsoever at the time.

“When we got done with the draft and we started our preparation for free agency, as we started planning for Plan A, our Plan A was Kemba Walker and Enes Kanter,” Ainge said. “We were very fortunate that they chose the Boston Celtics.”

Of course, it wasn’t the Celtics’ first choice at the start of last season, when Irving said publicly he would re-sign.

After all that happened following that declaration though, it might have been the best they could do.