Kyrie Irving to receive second opinion on sore left knee

The Celtics have not received good news on the injury front for a while and that trend continued on Tuesday. League sources confirmed to Bostonsportsjournal.com that Kyrie Irving will receive a second opinion on his sore left knee this week. Tony Massarotti of 98.5 The Sports Hub was first to report the news.

Irving will miss his fourth-straight game for the Celtics on Tuesday night against the Thunder. He has not played since last Sunday against the Indiana Pacers when he pulled himself with knee discomfort at halftime.

League sources told Bostonsportsjournal.com that any surgery that Irving undergoes on his knee at this stage of the year would be season-ending.

Irving had hardware inserted in his knee from surgery to repair a broken kneecap with the Cavaliers in 2015 and Cleveland.com reported earlier this year that surgery was a long-term consideration for Irving last summer.

The soreness in the same knee is something the All-Star point guard would have to deal with throughout the rest of this season and his career, according to Danny Ainge. The team was aware of that reality when they traded for the 25-year-old back in August.

“There was a lot of discussion (at the time about the knee),” Ainge told Toucher & Rich on 98.5 The Sports Hub last week. “And that was a big part of it going forward too was Kyrie had the injury. So we knew there would be maintenance issues, but his long-term prognosis is good. He’s going to have some maintenance issues here and there. We knew coming into this year that he probably wasn’t going to be an 82-game guy. He was going to be a 72-, 75-game guy in order to keep him fresh for the playoffs. And that’s what it’s been. And we’re just extra cautious. We have the good fortune of being extra cautious right now. And we want him fresh and healthy. And we think that he will be, come playoff time.”

However, Boston Sports Journal's medical expert Dr. Jessica Flynn acknowledged last week that surgery would be on the table for Irving to address the hardware issue.

"The other question is whether he will consider surgery," Flynn explained. "If it’s a major issue for him where he’s losing time and playing through more pain than any of us really know about, if his performance is affected, the question is whether he will consider having surgery this offseason to debride it and address the hardware in the kneecap (if he has some in there), if that’s causing the issue. Those are things he could theoretically address this offseason. It’s definitely something to certainly think about and monitor the symptoms to see which trajectory it’s taking. Is it getting better or worse each season? I certainly don’t think it’s career ending or anything like that."

You can read Flynn's full analysis of Irving's knee woes by clicking here.