With playoff-bound teams looking to play their best basketball of the 2017-18 NBA season, there are major concerns surrounding Kyrie Irving for the Boston Celtics. After sitting out the past three games, the soreness in Irving's left knee has not improved.

As a result, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, the 25-year-old is getting a second opinion on his injured knee:

In addition, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN says there remains no structural damage and rest is believed to be the best option:

With 12 games remaining in the season, the reality is most players are not completely healthy. However, the hope is the team's training staff can somehow make the knee injury more manageable to play with. As Irving seeks a second opinion, it will be interesting to see if he will get a couple more games in before the start of the playoffs.

After a strong start by Irving and the new-look Celtics, Boston is currently 47-23, second in the Eastern Conference. As they are unlikely to catch the Toronto Raptors (five games back), they have a significant lead on the Cleveland Cavaliers (six games ahead).

Irving is averaging 24.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 5.1 assists in 60 appearances.