Kyrie Irving Undergoing Surgery A Very Good Sign, Doctor Says

Kyrie Irving recently underwent a minor "minimally invasive" procedure to rectify the knee soreness he has been suffering this season.

The Boston Celtics confirmed the procedure was to remove a tension wire from their star point guard’s left knee. The wire was inserted during a surgery to treat the kneecap fracture that he suffered during the 2015 NBA Finals.

"Celtics guard Kyrie Irving today underwent a minimally-invasive procedure to remove a tension wire in his left knee," a Celtics statement via NBA.com read. "The wire was originally placed as part of the surgical repair of a fractured patella sustained during the 2015 NBA Finals."

Irving has not played for Celtics since their 99-97 loss to the Indiana Pacers on March 11. He indicated that he will take an extended break after the game in order to regain full fitness before the playoffs begin on April 14.

Orthopedic specialist Dr. Chris Chihlas has spoken about the former Cleveland Cavaliers star’s decision to go under the knife and believes it was the right decision as the removal of the wire will completely fix the irritation that he was suffering in his knee.

"That's a very good sign that that's what the surgery was about," Dr. Chihlas, an orthopedic specialist with Southcoast Health, was quoted as saying by Yahoo Sports. "If it was just irritation to his patella tendon and he was having patella tendinitis, not kneecap trouble, then taking the wire out should completely fix that."

The doctor went on to further explain the need of the wire when a player suffers a kneecap fracture.

"So, when the kneecap breaks, think if you split a piece of wood and it splits in two pieces and you wrap a rope around it to keep the two pieces together," Dr. Chihlas said. "So that wrap around...it just squeezes the fracture together like a lasso."

“The wire is put in there to be just for a temporary period of time to hold the pieces together while the body heals the fracture. So the body kind of glues them back together, like any fracture heals together. Then the wires are extra; you don't need it anymore,” he added.

Meanwhile, Celtics coach Brad Stevens was unable to give a timeline for Irving’s potential return to action earlier in the week but is hoping to have his star point guard back for the playoffs which begin in less than 10 days’ time.

However, according to Celtics reporter Marc D’Amico, the coach is said to have revealed that they are not expecting Irving to return by the time the playoffs start. "Tonight’s crew + Shane Larkin and Terry Rozier will be our team when the playoffs start," Stevens said after their loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night.

The Celtics are now almost certain to finish second in the Eastern Conference following back-to-back defeats to the Bucks and the Toronto Raptors. They are now three games behind conference leaders Raptors with just four games to go in the regular season.