Kyrie Irving finally addressed a shoulder injury that has marred — and could threaten — his debut Nets season. Though he’s improved since getting anti-inflammatories, he doesn’t know when he’ll return and admits he may still need arthroscopic surgery down the road.

“I’m in a better place now that it’s been some significant time,” Irving said of his shoulder impingement before the Nets’ 121-102 loss to the Raptors on Saturday. “I tried to go without any anti-inflammatories, which is why it took so long.

“Now I’m at a place where the next step was to either get a cortisone shot or get surgery. So that was the ultimatum I was fixed with. So now I’m just doing the best I can to live off this cortisone and move forward if I need surgery in the future.”

The star guard spoke to the press for the first time since going down on Nov. 14 in Denver, and the picture he painted was transparent but hardly rosy. He grudgingly got a cortisone shot on Christmas Eve that could get him on the court quicker, but it’s a short-term fix.

“It just sucks, man,” said Irving. “It really is disheartening when you’re working your tail off to be at a certain level and your shooting shoulder just starts to give out on you a little bit. You’re looking at it like ‘Hey, it’s just a shoulder. Let me ice this thing and get back out there.’

“But you keep feeling something in your shoulder and you’re trying to explain it to the medical staff, explain it to all these experts out there. … I’m doing all these exercises and still nothing’s happening to get me back on the court.”

“Wish we could help him more. But the body’s got to heal, it’s got to get better,” Kenny Atkinson said. “Obviously he put some other options out there, which behind the scenes we’re talking about all this stuff. So frustrated is the best word.”

Bursitis cost Irving a 23rd straight game Saturday, and he still isn’t cleared for contact. That may not happen anytime soon.

“We’ve got to be realistic with that’s going on here: Guys aren’t healthy,” Irving said. “Me and [Kevin Durant] obviously came here to play together and lead these guys to a championship run the next few years. And right now, we’re just not in a position to do so.”

In his first comments since Nov. 14, Irving said not only did the injury occur back on Nov. 4 vs. New Orleans, but that he could require surgery if the cortisone wears off quickly. And even if the shot lasts for a while, offseason surgery is a distinct possibility.

“The next progression was get a cortisone shot or you get arthroscopic surgery,” Irving said. “The cortisone shot lasts as long as it can. You either continue to get cortisone shots, which is obviously detrimental to your health in your muscles, or you go get arthroscopic surgery.

“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.”

Irving held off from getting the shot as long as he could. He even went to see a shoulder specialist in Phoenix, and said he mulled getting surgery that could’ve essentially ended his season.

“Yeah, it’s definitely crossed my mind. I wouldn’t be honest with you if I didn’t tell you that,” Irving said. “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. In two months or so, see if it still lasts for a month or could start hurting in the next two weeks.

“So I’m going to continue the process that I’m on of rehabbing and try to get back out there with the guys. It’s definitely crossed my mind just getting the surgery. It’d probably put me out for three or four months, or whatever two or three doctors say. You’re going to dissect what I say anyway. I just thought about the present moment and what we have.

“I know getting [the shot] more than once or twice, you’re putting yourself at risk. I’ll make the best decision for my health … I want to go out and play, so just continue to rehab and live with the results of me going out there and giving it an actual shot … see where we land and move forward after the season.”