After being extremely hobbled throughout the playoffs, Kyrie Irving’s season came to an unfortunate and premature end in Game 1 of the Finals when he suffered a fractured left kneecap. He was sidelined while the Cavs lost to the Warriors in six games, and underwent surgery that gave him a timetable of three to four months.
By all indications, things are progressing as expected. He’s off crutches and walking now, and even helped kids at his basketball camp recently with drills.
From Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer:There was nothing rigorous about this return to the hardwood. Irving spoke Saturday afternoon from Mentor High School, the site of this year’s Kyrie Irving Basketball ProCamp where he and a selection of the area’s top high school and college basketball coaches were leading a camp of 550 kids in grades 1-12. Irving was walking from station to station to monitor the campers without any issues. He even picked up a basketball a few different times and showed off his dazzling handles while leading the dribbling drill.
Following successful surgery, the Cavs put a three to fourth month timetable for his recovery, which should put him on schedule to return for Training Camp at the end of September. Irving, however, isn’t thinking that far ahead.
“I’m honestly not putting a date on anything,” he said. “People are going to put a date regardless. I’m just continuing to be on the journey I’ve been on and that’s continuing to get better every single day and rehabbing my leg.”Even if Irving can’t go full-speed by the start of training camp, all signs about his recovery are encouraging and it’s unlikely that he will miss much of the season, if any at all. This is great news for the Cavs, who are at this point the prohibitive favorite to win the Eastern Conference if everyone stays healthy.
