Stephen Curry And Kyrie Irving Both Out With Injuries Until Playoffs, Per ‘Bleacher Report’

The news just continues to get worse for the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics. According to Bleacher Report, Kyrie Irving had a successful surgery on his knee to remove a tension wire Saturday morning. The procedure will have Irving out 3-6 weeks. For the Warriors, Curry, after missing time, came back Friday night, only to go down again; he was diagnosed with an MCL sprain in his knee. His timetable to return is also three or more weeks.

While it’s good news that both Irving and Curry could return for the playoffs, the question is, can their teams survive without them?

The Celtics are currently holding ground in the Eastern Conference sitting in second place, 4.5 games behind the Toronto Raptors and six games ahead of the third-place Cleveland Cavaliers. It’s still too early to tell who the Celtics will draw in the first round with the East race being so tight. Until Irving returns, the Celtics will have to rely on Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown to provide scoring from the perimeter.

Curry’s injury happened when his teammate JaVale McGee fell on his leg Friday night. Curry missed the last six Warriors’ games due to an ankle injury, now they will be without the face of their team for a month or so. With the Warriors already dealing with injuries to Kevin Durant and Draymond Green, a chance at the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference is all but gone. Much like with Boston, it’s not clear who the Warriors will face as the second seed as they sit 10 games ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers who sit third in a tightly-contested Western Conference race.

With the NBA regular season close to being over in two weeks, both teams could still face the possibility of not having their leading players in the first-round of the NBA Playoffs. It’s a huge blow to both teams who had visions of meeting in the NBA Finals. With Irving and Curry out, this may open the door for other contending teams like the Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors.

On the season, Curry was averaging 26.4 points and 6.1 assists while shooting 49.5 percent from the floor for the Warriors. Irving, in his first season with the Celtics, was averaging 24.4 points and 5.1 assists while shooting 49.1 percent from the floor.