Irving says recovery from knee infection was a long 2 months

Kyrie Irving is thrilled his left knee infection has fully healed and he can finally look ahead to just playing basketball next season.

The Boston Celtics point guard sat out the playoffs after having two screws removed from his left patella once the infection was discovered. Irving told reporters on Thursday that catching the issue early on prevented a staph infection. However, it had to be treated through a catheter inserted into his heart.

"I mean, you ask anybody with an infection, they will probably try to downplay it," Irving said at Team USA minicamp, according to ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk. "It's a personal thing because your body is going through it. 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.

"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."

The 26-year-old's left knee has been troubling him for a long time, as the screws were initially inserted to repair a fracture suffered while playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 2015 NBA Finals. He also had a tension wire inserted into the knee during the procedure which was removed on March 24, leading to the discovery of the infection.

"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 added he will "easily" be on the floor for day one of training camp, and is ready to lead the new favorite in the Eastern Conference next season. The Celtics will also be boosted by the return of Gordon Hayward from injury.