The Brooklyn Nets expect Kyrie Irving to return to the lineup on Sunday night against the Atlanta Hawks, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
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Irving has been nursing a right shoulder injury since mid-November. During his absence, the Nets have put together a 13-13 record, landing them at 17-20 overall, and in 8th place in the conference standings.
During his 11 games on the court this season, Irving has averaged 28.5 points, 7.2 assists and 5.4 rebounds.
"Hopefully I get some game reps in addition to practice probably in the next week or so," Irving told reporters recently. "It could be less than that, but I'll give myself a week."
Irving also admitted that he did consider surgery: "Yeah, it's definitely crossed my mind. I wouldn't be honest with you if I didn't tell you that, but I felt that the next step in the progression is to get the cortisone and see how it responds and then move on from that point... You either continue to get cortisone shots, which is obviously detrimental to your health in your muscles, or you go get arthroscopic surgery. For me, it's just about being able to go back out there after the right amount of rehab, the right amount of rest, recovery, and see what we can do for the rest of the season and then reevaluate after a few months."
Thursday morning, Irving participated in his first full practice with the team, including 5-on-5 contact drills, since the injury.
