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What's the story?
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported and the Boston Celtics later confirmed that All-Star guard Kyrie Irving will miss the rest of the regular season and playoffs in the wake of a knee surgery.
In case you didn't know...
On August 22, 2017, Kyrie Irving was traded from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Boston Celtics in a deal that included Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, and a 2018 first-round draft pick being sent to Cleveland.
The heart of the matter
The Celtics just recently made an official announcement on Thursday afternoon where they confirmed he'll miss the regular season and playoffs and Irving will have another procedure on his knee to remove two screws.
Irving underwent a procedure on March 24th to remove a tension wire in his knee. That wire was placed in 2015 to repair a fractured patella tendon.
Kyrie posted the following on his Instagram account shortly after the announcement:
In his first season with Boston, Irving averaged 24.4 points per game, 5.1 assists per game, and 3.8 rebounds per game during the 60 games he played this season. His play led the Celtics to the top of the Eastern Conference midway through the season where they lost star forward Gordon Hayward in the first game of the season.
The Celtics are currently in second place in the East three games behind the leading Toronto Raptors and five games ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers.
What's next?
The Boston Celtics (53-25) have four games left in the 2017-18 season and face the Chicago Bulls (27-51) next on Friday evening. While they are safe from falling lower than the second seed, there is a slim chance they could surpass Toronto if the Raptors were to have a collapse.
Author's take
As a Celtics fan, this is definitely disheartening news. With Irving adding to the mounting injuries in the team, it is going to be tough for the Celtics to advance far in the NBA Playoffs. Now is the time to look forward to next year when Irving and Hayward will hopefully be on the court together for many games.
Guess the Bulls players in this quiz and it's not going to be easy!
