Shoulder surgery to sideline Kyrie Irving for six months?

The Brooklyn Nets will be without their biggest star if the 2019-20 NBA season resumes during the summer months amid the coronavirus pandemic.

For a piece published by the New York Daily News on Monday, Penn Medicine's Dr. John D. Kelly, Director of Sports Shoulder, said that he expects Irving to be sidelined for roughly six months. This aligns with the speculated timetable reported by the NYDN last month.

The 28-year-old one-time NBA champion appeared in only 20 games during his debut campaign with the Brooklyn Nets until the NBA suspended play because of the virus outbreak on March 11. Irving last took the court for the Nets on Feb. 1. He had shoulder surgery on March 3.

Brooklyn (30-34) is in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, meaning the Nets would qualify for the playoffs if a standard postseason began today. The NBA and its players union haven't yet come to terms on an agreement to resume the season.

On Monday, Nets owner Joe Tsai told a virtual classroom of students at Stanford that NBA executives are divided about how to handle the rest of the suspended season:

“I’m kind of under a gag order of what I really think the NBA should do,” said Tsai, who is quarantined at his home in Hong Kong. “Everybody is still trying to figure things out, with the hope that maybe we can reopen the current season.”