Despite having Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward on the sidelines for all of the playoffs, the Boston Celtics were able to go further in the postseason with their young core than what anyone expected, reaching the Eastern Conference Finals.

Although they did lose to the Cleveland Cavaliers in that series, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum had fantastic seasons for the Celtics through the adversity, and many people believe that the team will be the favourites to win the East next season with the return of their injured superstars to the court.

Boston's head coach Brad Stevens recently spoke about when he expects Hayward to be fully cleared, which is around August time, and he has also done the same in the case of the team's point guard.

August Return

Speaking to Boston Herald's Mark Murphy, Stevens said that he and the team are hopeful Irving's recovery will continue to progress and lead to his return to the court sometime in August.

He said: “When we started the season, we were well-aware of the surgery, the hardware in his knee, and we knew we were going to have to manage that appropriately from a practice standpoint — two days on, one day off. We had to manage it in games — all of that as the season started. He was doing that really well, and then that wire started irritating him.

“When they removed the screws to make sure he was good from an infection standpoint, he had to take antibiotics and all those things, it was tough. Really tough. We were on the west coast trip when he made that call. The threat of infection in that area is real, and the screws had to be removed immediately. He was really down — really down.”

Stevens also stated that he believes both players will be pretty close to going full tilt around the end of July.

“I’ve been told they’ll both be going, if not full tilt, then pretty close to full tilt by the end of July, so August first-ish,” said Stevens.

“Probably won’t be playing five-on-five at that time, but will be real close. When guys start playing pick-up games, they’ll be in that mix, if they continue on the path they’re on, but there’s no indication they wouldn’t.

“Kyrie came through earlier this week, said he’s feeling fine, and shot and did some things here. But he’s not ready to compete yet — that’s still a ways away. The second surgery for Gordon went great, and he’s here getting treatment every day. Will be cleared to do all he was doing by the middle of July.”

Next season will be a big year for Irving, as he will have a chance to decide where he would like to play his basketball when he hits the open market in free agency in the summer of 2019. A good year will improve his chances of being able to play where he wants to.

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