Reporting the injury to Kyrie Irving's big toe has been a long, frustrating ride. You can't give the injury a name, because it's too complex for a one-word diagnosis. And you can't give a timetable for his return, because the basketball program doesn't even know when he's coming back. (Trust us: If someone says he or she know when Irving is returning, that person is lying.)
But good news, Duke fans! While an exact name for the injury was not given today, associate head coach Chris Collins did finally give more specific information about what exactly the problem is, telling the Fayetteville Observer that the injury entails both ligament and bone damage.
"It's a form of turf toe but it's a little more severe than that. It's been hard to explain in layman's terms. But because it's in the ball of his foot, that's a really dicey area. That's where you do all your cutting and your jumping. And that's where you do all of your pushing off from. That's what's made this all the more delicate. I don't know that the injury has an exact label. If it has a name, I don't know what it is. But it's something that we need to make sure gets healed correctly before Kyrie even thinks about playing. Because otherwise he could have more problems down the road."
So as many originally thought, it is a form of turf toe, which can carry with it a healing time of four to six weeks. The problem, though, is that it's not really turf toe: Turf toe doesn't involve bone damage.
Collins also said that the course the team is on is non-surgical path. (If Irving did undergo surgery, he'd undoubtedly be out for the year.) This is partly why there's no timetable:
"It's not like where if you break your foot, you can say ‘OK, we know in six-to-eight weeks, he'll be back.' This is truly a unique case where you have to go by feel. And that's made it hard to say, ‘Hey, if all goes perfectly, he's back in a month or six weeks.' We just don't know. That's why we're always talking about having the toe reevaluated. Every week we're checking it out, seeing what the progress is. And the main thing right now is that we're on a course that's non-surgical. And as long as we see good progression, we'll stay with that."
As always, check back here for any new information.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.