Kyrie Irving is reportedly out for the remainder of the season

The Boston Celtics have announced that they are not expecting Kyrie Irving to return from knee surgery for the playoffs.

On March 24, Kyrie Irving underwent a “minimally invasive” procedure to remove a tension wire from his left knee. He was expected to only miss 3-6 weeks following the procedure, but according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Irving won’t just miss the rest of the regular season, but the entirety of the postseason, too.

This is devastating news for a Celtics team that, even without Gordon Hayward, was supposed to compete for the Eastern Conference title with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors.

Irving was having yet another All-Star caliber season and was leading a team with a perfect blend of veteran leadership, youth and coaching.

The Celtics have been bitten by the injury bug all season long, and it’s been incredibly harsh in recent weeks. Begining with Hayward in the first quarter of the first game of the NBA season culminating with guys like Irving, Al Horford, Marcus Smart, Daniel Theis, Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier all dealing with varying ailments in the last month.

Even without Irving, the Celtics should remain competitive during their time in the postseason, but their title hopes all but died with the news of Irving missing the rest of the playoffs.

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Of course, this paves the way for either the Cavaliers to head back to the Finals for a fourth-consecutive season or for the Toronto Raptors to finally get over the hump and earn the franchise’s first trip to the biggest stage in the sport.

The outlook for the Celtics isn’t entirely bleak, however. The team still owns the rights to the Lakers first round pick, which should be a late lottery and will return with a ROY candidate and three potential all-stars for next season with the return of both Irving and Hayward.