UPDATE (1:44 p.m. ET): The Boston Celtics confirmed Kyrie Irving will miss the remainder of the season while providing some disturbing context to his injury.
Irving will undergo a procedure this Saturday to remove “two screws implanted in his left patella” that were placed in his knee after he fractured it during the 2015 NBA Finals, the team announced.
The 26-year-old underwent a procedure in mid-March that was supposed to remove those screws in addition to the wire in his left knee, but “pathology indicated the presence of a bacterial infection at the site of the hardware,” according to the Celtics. He’ll have those screws removed Saturday to ensure no infection remains in the knee.
Irving is expected to return in four to five months.
ORIGINAL STORY: The news Boston Celtics fans feared reportedly has come to pass.
Star point guard Kyrie Irving will miss the remainder of the season following surgery on his knee to remove a tension wire, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Thursday, citing sources.
Irving had the procedure done March 24 and initially was expected to miss between three and six weeks. While the surgery reportedly was “minimally invasive,” there always was a chance that the 26-year-old would not return to the court until the 2018 season.
The Celtics are all but locked into the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, but they could have a difficult time advancing in the playoffs without Irving to carry the scoring load.
A season that started with a ton of promise for the Celtics has concluded with Irving and Gordon Hayward playing a combined 61 games in their first season in Boston.
The C’s will rely on Terry Rozier to man the starting point guard role in Irving’s absence.
