Boston Celtics basketball is right around the corner.
With NBA preseason just over a week away and the regular season set to begin next month, fans are getting geared up for the return of a healthy Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward.
The two stars saw their seasons get cut short last year, with Irving being sidelined due to knee surgery and Hayward to a gruesome leg/ankle injury just minutes into his Celtics debut. But given Irving’s injury history, Brad Stevens knows the point guard is ready to get back on the floor.
The head coach watched Irving during some workouts at The Auerbach Center, noting the work the guard has put in during his rehab process.
“I saw him this morning at the facility and he looks good. He’s worked really hard, I think he’s really excited and it’s good to see that. I think both he and Gordon will appreciate all the little things and all the mundane things even more,” Stevens told The Boston Herald’s Mark Murphy. “Because Kyrie’s had the end of the season taken away from him twice in the last four years, and the one with us last year was such a shock because of the unfortunate event with the infection.
“He’s been really diligent all the way through his rehab. I watched him go through the steps of working out to one-on-one to two-on-two to three-on-three, and five-on-five in some of the open gyms the guys are having,” Stevens added. “Like anything, there’s always going to be a period of adjustment. From my eye and anybody else who has watched, he looks like he looked before.”
Due to the surgery, Irving missed the end of the regular season as well as the entirety of the playoffs. But it certainly sounds like he’s 100 percent and will be ready to help the Celtics compete for banner 18.
