According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving will miss Friday’s game against the Boston Celtics as he continues to deal with a shoulder impingement that he sustained on Nov. 14.
Irving also missed Wednesday’s matchup against the Celtics (a win for the C’s), which would have been the guard’s first game in Boston since ditching green jerseys for black ones. However, as this game will be in Brooklyn, Irving may be on the sidelines (along with the injured Kevin Durant, DeAndre Jordan and Caris LeVert).
In an interview with the New York Daily News’ Kristian Winfield, Dr. John Kelly IV — the director of Sports Shoulder at Penn Medicine — would describe Irving’s injury and speculate on the severity of it:
“‘Impingement’ refers to excessive contact of the front rotator cuff tendon against the acromion — the part of the shoulder blade that comprises the front corner of the shoulder.
In Irving’s case — and other younger patients’ cases — the shoulder impingement could have been the result of an injury to the rotator cuff, as well as the instability of his shoulder joints.”
Nets' Kyrie Irving will miss Friday's game against Boston in Brooklyn.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 28, 2019
“Both conditions force the rotator cuff to work overtime in order to keep the shoulder stable,” Kelly explains. “There is a high likelihood that Mr. Irving has a labral tear or loosening of the shoulder capsule due to repetitive stress.”
In the past, players with a torn rotator cuff — if that’s what Irving’s injury is akin too — have required from two to nine months to recover. Irving has already been out for two weeks and appears as if he’ll be out much longer.