It was only a few months ago that Kyrie Irving demanded a trade out of Cleveland. Kyrie reportedly wanted to be more of the focal point of a team instead of being LeBron James sidekick. Eventually, Irving was sent to the Boston Celtics in a blockbuster deal. However, Boston’s focal point didn’t show up to his team’s game seven loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Irving’s injury history
Kyrie Irving has been injured for a while and was ruled out of the entire postseason before it even began. Irving’s injury problems date all the way back to the 2015 NBA Finals when he suffered a fracture and had to get multiple screws into his patella.
This last March, Kyrie had to undergo a minimally-invasive procedure to remove a wire in his left knee. The surgery was only meant to keep Kyrie out for only three to six weeks. However, doctors had to go back in and remove two screws after tests showed that they had become infected.
The last surgery ended Irving’s season and could take four to five months to recover from. Despite being out of the playoffs, Kyrie was at Boston’s games until game seven.
Not even in the building for game seven
It didn’t take long for viewers and commentators to notice the Boston star wasn’t at game seven. Irving drew some quick and sharp criticism.
ESPN commentator Mark Jackson said, “If he’s just at home chilling or somewhere not important, to me, that’s a problem. I would much rather have the great Kyrie Irving in the building. This is Game 7.”
On Monday, Celtics general manager Danny Ainge did his best to put an end to the criticism. Ainge explained that Kyrie recently had nasal surgery.
Ainge said, “Kyrie had a deviated septum, had some surgery on that, and so I don’t think he wanted to be seen.” Ainge went on to joke about Irving being a good-looking guy with a movie career.
After blowing out Cleveland in the first two games, Boston let LeBron James and company storm back and win the series. Cleveland is now advancing to the Finals.
