Kyrie may be weeks away from return
Though the Nets’ Caris LeVert is nearing his return from surgery on his right thumb, Kyrie Irving still hasn’t been cleared for contact and appears to be weeks away from getting back on the court.
On Dec. 4, specialists told The Post that Irving’s injury would keep him out for weeks and there could be more than meets the eye to what the Nets initially had termed a shoulder impingement. Now Heavy.com has reported he could be out two to three more weeks with what the team is privately calling “thoracic bursitis.”
Multiple specialists who spoke with The Post on Tuesday said there were subtle differences in the diagnoses, albeit a similar time frame.
“It’s slightly different. When I think subacromial [bursitis], I think like rotator cuff. If it’s scapula thoracic, you think a little more to the back part of the shoulder, like the shoulder blade region,” said Dr. Stephen Hunt, a sports medicine trained orthopedic surgeon who practices in Morristown, N.J., at Tri-County Orthopedics.
“We see this in swimmers a lot, they’re an example of overhead athletes, volleyball. That’s the group we tend to see it in. They tend to be younger, more of a repetitive motion injury [than age].”
That had been a concern, with the vague catch-all diagnosis of a shoulder impingement, which often is seen in athletes around 40. Irving is just 27 and in the first season of a four-year max deal.
Both Hunt and Dr. Armin Tehrany, founder of Manhattan Orthopedic Care, agreed that Irving’s potential new diagnosis could be handled without surgery, but nevertheless should keep him sidelined for a couple more weeks “at least.”
“It does [change the outlook], but it depends on the exact location. … Could be [better],” said Tehrany, the Honorary Surgeon for the NYPD.
Irving injured his shoulder on Nov. 12 at Utah and aggravated it playing two days later in a 101-93 loss at Denver. He hasn’t played, practiced or talked to the press in the nearly six weeks since.
“It can become a painful problem. The scapula is important for the shoulder to function normally,” Hunt said. “It has significant importance to raise your arm over your head. Functional things that an athlete like that needs to be doing, it can cause limitations.
“It’s non-operative for a majority of people. Rehab, rest, medication — sometimes an injection can be done — and very rarely is surgery ever indicated.”
The Nets have been tight-lipped about the injury and offered no timeline. The star guard did, however, attend the Nike Kyrie Irving Invitational Tournament at Barclays Center on Monday. That’s when Heavy.com cited a Nets source with an updated prognosis of thoracic bursitis — or scapulothoracic bursitis. It is believed this condition is the consequence of bursitis (inflammation) underneath the scapula.
According to the Boston Shoulder Institute: “This condition is often associated with audible and palpable crepitation, and so it has also been named ‘snapping scapular syndrome.’ This rare condition may occur as a consequence of repetitive use of the shoulder overhead causing changes to the normal mechanics of the shoulder. The result is that the muscles which control scapular motion fatigue and the scapula [loses] its normal coordination.”