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In light of the recent decision to sit Kyrie Irving for the remainder of the season and postseason, the Boston Celtics announced his recovery will take an estimated 4-5 months. Irving underwent surgery to remove a tension wire implanted in his knee, which had become infected since the time he had the procedure in mid-2015.
He will go under the knife yet again on Saturday, which will remove the two screws implanted in his left patella after sustaining a patellar fracture after Game 1 of the 2015 NBA Finals.
This latest procedure will ensure that no infection remains in the knee, by removing the screws and cleaning every bit of debris from previous procedures.
The fracture in Irving’s patella has healed completely and his knee remains structurally sound, but the team has opted to err in the side of caution with their All-Star point guard as they did with Gordon Hayward, playing odds for the long-term rather than rush his return and have to revisit this procedure down the road.
Irving's production of 24.4 points, 5.1 assists, and 3.8 assists per game will be tough to replace, even with spark plug Marcus Smart expected to make a return at some point in the postseason.
The Celtics have been holding down the fort thanks to the offense from their young core of Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Terry Rozier, while veterans like Marcus Morris and Al Horford have stepped up as of late.
Locked into the No. 2 seed, this postseason will be a lot tougher to navigate without a perennial scorer in the lineup.
