Celtics guard Kyrie Irving will miss the playoffs because he needs knee surgery.
BOSTON — The Boston Celtics have spent most of the season adjusting on the fly. Now they will have to go through the playoffs without Kyrie Irving.
The star point guard will need surgery on his left knee and is done for the season. Thursday, the team put his recovery time at four to five months. Irving hasn't played since March 11.
“The hardest thing to do sometimes is accept the uncontrollable things life throws at you,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “It's simply a test of your perseverance and will, to be present, even in the wake of what's going on.”
In the upcoming surgery, two screws will be removed. They were implanted after Irving's patellar fracture during the 2015 NBA Finals. Irving, 26, recently developed an infection at the site of the screws, and now they must be taken out.
Following his original procedure last month, the team had said the knee was structurally sound and the kneecap healed, but the wire had been putting pressure on the knee.
This is Irving's first season in Boston after he demanded to be traded from Cleveland. And the player for whom he was dealt, Isaiah Thomas, is out for the year following hip surgery.
This latest news isn't surprising considering the tight recovery window Irving faced. But it is a blow to a Celtics team that had been playing well despite a run of injuries to key players. Boston likely will enter the playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference behind Toronto.
In addition to Irving, guard Marcus Smart is sidelined following right thumb surgery and forward Daniel Theis is out for the season after left knee surgery. Forward Gordon Hayward is not expected back as he recovers from his gruesome ankle injury in the season opener.
With Irving out, the Celtics will need someone to be the spark for a team that had been hoping to make a run at the conference title following last year's loss to Cleveland in the conference finals.
Boston takes a hit without Irving, but it has been making adjustments to its rotation for weeks. Irving has been out for the past 11 games, with Boston going 7-4.
The void has been filled nicely by reserve Terry Rozier, who is playing his best basketball in his third year in the NBA. He has appeared in 77 of 78 games, starting 13.