The wave of breakthrough COVID cases continues to impact the Brooklyn Nets.

A day after learning Kyrie Irving was being allowed back to play for road games, the Nets' next superstar to enter the health-and-safety protocols was none other than the team's MVP candidate, Kevin Durant. Just as we were beginning to digest that blockbuster news story, we got more. Now Irving, not vaccinated, has entered protocols as well. All of this comes just a couple days after James Harden entered protocols.

How many times can our minds get blown in one week? An already absurd injury report has now added two of the biggest names in the sport to the “OUT: health and safety protocols” column, and all of the Nets “big three.”

So the Nets were up to eight players on the COVID list when they decided to call Irving for reinforcements. And as he was asked to take his initial test to return to play, he tested positive (or inconclusive), too.

Hey Kyrie, we'd love to have you back, oh wait….

So the entire thing has fans of all teams buzzing.

Many fans praised the Nets back in October when they decided not to accommodate any part-time unvaccinated players. I wrote at the time that the team was making a tough decision, but ultimately, the right one. So how do we resolve them changing their minds if we supported them in the first place?

Now that they're allowing Irving back, ironically (originally banned from the team in part to prevent this happening) to lend reinforcements as a rash of COVID cases and injuries places a hefty burden on the team's stars, it has some fans and media members criticizing Nets' leadership.

Being a sports fan right now is much more complicated than it used to be, huh? For their part, the Nets have released a statement.

It's clear that the team leadership group of Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, Sean Marks and Steve Nash have reassessed the situation. Some fans I've already spoken to have wondered if Irving testing positive highlights precisely why the Nets should hold their ground and keep Irving away from the team. They reason that any possible increased risk of catching or spreading COVID at a time when the virus rages on presents a clear and present danger to the team, staff and those around them.

Other fans have embraced the decision, emphasizing the uncomplicated yearning for a title which has evaded this franchise since its ABA days.

How the Nets might respond to criticism would be interesting to hear. Would they argue that this outbreak, and the fact that all but Irving are vaccinated, will give them herd immunity moving forward? Do they think that being a mostly vaccinated group, plus having just gone through a COVID outbreak best type of protection anyone can get these days?

Whatever the angle, it's pretty clear Brooklyn's reason for letting Kyrie back relates to how well Durant is playing (leading the NBA in points per game with 29.7 ppg) and how many minutes Durant is logging (2nd overall in minutes at 37 mpg).

The Nets don't want anything to stand in the way of Durant, one of the best players ever in peak form, leading this franchise to a championship. That's their organizational ethos as outlined in the PR statement. It's kind of New England Patriots-esque in a way, isn't it? You can almost hear Bill Belichick muttering, “We determined it was better not to have Irving around, now we've changed our mind, our goal is a championship, plain and simple, we're onto Orlando.”

So there is still basketball to be played, even though the Nets don't have their Big Three of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, and even though they don't have another six rotation players available, either. Joe Harris is dealing with an ankle injury, too.

Brooklyn, which back on Tuesday shared that a couple coaches or staff members have also entered COVID protocols, will wait for its players to recover and return the requisite amount of negative tests. For what it's worth, Nash indicated back on Tuesday that most of the team was asymptomatic.

One more wrinkle here: The league has no interest in suspending the season indefinitely until the spread is controlled.

The Nets have picked up some players like Langston Galloway, James Ennis and Shaq Harrison to help cobble together a lineup. We'll likely miss out on the epic Durant versus LeBron James showdown on Christmas Day. We'll have to wait for Irving's first road game appearance as well.

This is monster news, and there's not a ton of time to process our feelings about it all before Brooklyn's next basketball game Saturday versus the Orlando Magic. But the Nets‘ championship odds are much higher now than they were a couple days ago.