Kyrie Irving talks knee infection, being ready for training camp





After a few tough months for Kyrie Irving, where the Celtics point guard had to remove an infection in his knee, sit on the sidelines as his team was narrowly denied a trip to the NBA Finals, and take antibiotics for two months, he finally feels good about where he's at this summer.

Irving underwent season-ending surgery back in April, and he recently opened up about the procedure and recovery process, and how it effected him. The 26-year-old explained what exactly was wrong with his new to ESPN.com's Ohm Youngmisuk:

"I was fighting an infection in a specific place in your body where you can't necessarily reach with your hands. You got to go in there and kind of see what's going on, and what happened for me was, the metal wiring and the screws that I had in there, the infection was on that, so I had to remove that and then be on antibiotics for about two months."

Many fans were disappointed that Kyrie missed the end of the season, but it is a good thing they caught it early before the infection got worse, or his absence extended longer:

"It could have evolved to staph, but good thing we caught it early. I am glad that is done. That was a long, long f---ing two months.

For the last two months, it was a long, rigorous process, trying to get that infection out and make sure I was safe," Irving said. "And then rehabbing from there. So I have been rehabbing probably for the last month and some change where I can actually do something without much restrictions."

Irving also told Youngmisuk that he will "easily" be ready for training camp, let alone the start of the season. With Gordon Hayward also closing in on full-strength as well, this is ensuring news for the start of the season. Irving mentioned how he basically has yet to play alongside Hayward in a game yet, adding that the most important thing is to find their cohesion as a team. Not only does he think he will be ready for camp, he feels like he's had the most time to work on developing his game this summer:

"This is probably one of the first summers in the last seven years where I have actually had time to develop and work on things that I want to improve on," he said. "I have been playing USA every summer or I was hurt one summer or we are coming off a championship.

"It has been a grind, and it kind of caught up with me last season, and now getting a chance to really take my time and focus on my body this summer."


All good news from Kyrie!



Follow Erik Johnson on Twitter: @erikjohnson32

Photo via Erik Williams/USA TODAY Sports Images