Jaylen Brown doesn’t blame Kyrie for Boston’s 2018-19 season

Fourth-year wing Jaylen Brown doesn’t subscribe to the idea Kyrie Irving was to blame for Boston’s 2018-19 struggles.

Another voice has joined the chorus decrying the blame laid at Kyrie Irving’s feet for the Boston Celtics’ disastrous 2018-19 season, this time from a surprising source.

Jaylen Brown, interviewed by Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson, pushed back against such narratives, reports the New York Post’s Kristian Winfield, instead suggesting fault was more of a shared affair beginning in the front office.

While things have calmed down since a raucous TD Garden gave former Celtics and current Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving a very cold welcome in November, they’ll likely heat back up in March, when the two teams face off again in Boston.

And while it’s understandable for fans to boo the Australian floor general for choosing to play elsewhere after his promise to stay, his now-former teammates took issue with just how far the fans and media took the hazing.

“[For] Kyrie, a lot of the blame was undeserving,” Brown explained.

“It wasn’t his fault that certain guys couldn’t take a step back. It wasn’t his fault. That was the front office and coaches fault. He gets a lot of that blame because he was the star, but a lot of that should be on the organization/coaching staff.”

This is especially noteworthy given the Georgia native and Irving were not known to be fast friends like fellow wing players Jayson Tatum and Gordon Hayward were, echoing mea culpas from the likes of Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens.

While it remains to be seen whether the fans will move on from last season as the current iteration of the Celtics has requested, it’s clear the Cal-Berkeley product has.

“Kyrie is in a better place in Brooklyn, somewhere his roots are. He’ll be fine,” the fourth-year shooting guard said.

“It’s in the past,” Brown added.

Fingers crossed on behalf of those of us who’d prefer to talk about this iteration of the Boston franchise.