The Boston Celtics are expected to have superstar guard Kyrie Irving back on the court once the 2017-18 NBA season kicks off in October, according to David Aldridge of NBA.com.
Irving was cleared for basketball activities in late July and expects to be ready for the start of camp. He’ll be under no minutes restrictions once the regular season begins, according to a source. (What remains unclear is how coach Brad Stevens can manage the minutes at point guard between Irving, Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier without someone getting out of sorts.)
In his first year in Celtics threads, Irving played in 60 games and lead the team with 24.4 points and 5.1 assists. He also pulled down 3.8 rebounds per game and made 49.1 percent of his shots from the floor and 40.8 percent from deep.
Irving, however, went under the knife last April to remove a pair of screws in his left knee, thus cutting his season short and forcing him to miss Boston’s postseason run that ended in a Game 7 loss to his former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Irving’s absence, however, gave way to the rise of Terry Rozier who admirably took over as Uncle Drew’s replacement atop the team’s point guard depth chart in the playoffs. But as what Aldridge pointed out, the return of Kyrie Irving will give Celtics head coach Brad Stevens the challenge of giving ample minutes to his other point guards in Marcus Smart and Rozier, whose playoffs breakout warrants an increased playing time.
The Celtics will open their season with a home game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Oct. 17.
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