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Kyrie to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery

Nathaniel S. Butler / National Basketball Association / Getty

Kyrie Irving's first year in Brooklyn has come to a close.

The Nets point guard will undergo surgery on his right shoulder and will miss the remainder of the season, general manager Sean Marks told reporters Thursday, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times.

"He's obviously upset about this, and we are here to support him, support the process moving forward with him and the rehabilitation," Marks said, according to ESPN's Tim Bontemps. "He saw specialists including our people at (New York's Hospital for Special Surgery) and it has been a group consensus that at this point in time, and this juncture, this is the best course of action."

Irving hasn't played since Feb. 1, and he missed 26 games between November and January due to an impingement in the same shooting shoulder. He received a cortisone shot on Dec. 24.

"I think we look at our players' long-term health as the No. 1 priority," Marks said. "Kyrie has been adamant like the rest of us that he would take one cortisone shot and see how it goes.

"We are looking at the big picture here. We are not looking at the next two-three months. We are looking at the next two-three years."

Irving has struggled to stay healthy over the course of his nine-year NBA career. He has never played all 82 games in a single regular-season campaign.

The 27-year-old averaged 27.4 points, 6.4 assists, and 5.2 boards in 2019-20. He signed a four-year, $136.5-million deal with the Nets as a free agent this past summer.

Brooklyn is seventh in the Eastern Conference as play resumes after the All-Star break, two games up on the Orlando Magic for eighth. Offensively, the Nets are 7.8 points per 100 possessions better with Irving on the floor, but eight points per 100 possessions better defensively with him off.

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