Kyrie Irving to undergo 'minimally invasive procedure' on sore left knee

The Celtics announced Friday afternoon Kyrie Irving will undergo a minimally invasive procedure on his left knee on Saturday. The team will release further information about Irving's condition and a potential recovery timetable on Saturday following completion of the procedure.

The decision comes in wake of Irving getting a second opinion on the sore left knee that has kept him sidelined for five of the past six games. Rest clearly has not addressed the pain issue sufficiently, so with the playoffs approaching, more direct action has been ordered with the procedure.

Irving had surgery to repair a fractured left kneecap during the 2015 NBA Finals and Danny Ainge noted in an appearance on "Toucher & Rich" last week the soreness in the same knee is something the All-Star point guard would have to deal with throughout the rest of his career. 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),” Ainge said. “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.”

BSJ Analysis: The question now is obviously whether Irving will still be on track to return to the floor in time for the postseason and what exact procedure Irving is having done. Boston Sports Journal's medical expert Dr. Jessica Flynn will be sharing her in-depth thoughts on the possibilities later Friday, but there appear to be a couple promising signs the Celtics are still hoping for a Irving return this year.

1)  Having the procedure on a Saturday: Generally, in the medical world, non-emergency procedure happen on weekdays, not weekends. The assumption here with time being a factor for Irving, is that doing the procedure on a weekend is a good sign.

2) The phrasing: The Celtics are being careful not to call this surgery. After consulting with Dr. Flynn, it appears there are a few possibilities that fit that description. A PRP injection, knee scope or removing wires/sutures from his past surgery would all be possible procedures that should allow Irving to return at some point next month. Dr. Flynn will have additional details on each of these in a post coming later Friday afternoon.

We'll know a lot more Saturday, but for now, it's fair to guess we won't be seeing much, of any, of Irving throughout the rest of the regular season. That won't matter much from a seeding perspective for Boston, but it will create additional challenges and uncertainty about what this team will look like for Round 1 of the postseason.