Kyrie Irving did not attend Game 7 due to deviated septum surgery

ByABC News
May 28, 2018, 12:46 PM

Injured Boston Celtics guard Kyrie Irving did not attend his team's Game 7 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers because he had undergone surgery for a deviated septum, president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said Monday.

"I don't think he wanted to be seen," Ainge said, before joking that "he's a really good-looking guy. He didn't want to ruin his movie career."

Irving's agent, Jeff Wechsler, told ESPN's Jackie MacMullan that the point guard wanted to attend the game but couldn't fly because of the surgery.

"It was a residual from the facial fracture he had earlier in the season," Wechsler said of the injury. "He had the knee surgery, and now he's taken care of this sinus surgery, so he will be all set going forward."

Irving had not played in the Celtics' run to the Eastern Conference finals after undergoing a pair of surgeries in March and April to remove screws from his left patella that had become infected. The team indicated at the time that he was expected to need four to five months to recover.

Boston's season ended with an 87-79 loss to Cleveland in Game 7.

Information from ESPN's Chris Forsberg was used in this report.