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As part of his media availability on Friday morning, Brooklyn Nets All-Star Kyrie Irving claimed that his new teammate, Kevin Durant, wasn't recovered enough to play in the 2019 NBA Finals with the Warriors.
Durant went down with an Achilles injury in the second quarter of Game 5. The Warriors rallied to win that game against the Raptors, but Golden State ultimately lost the series, 4-2.
Upon further medical evaluation, it was determined that Durant had suffered an Achilles injury. Some thought the Warriors rushed him back to the floor too soon after he missed a good chunk of time with a calf injury, including Kyrie:
Article Continues Below“We all know that K was not ready to play in that environment,” Irving said. “It was to sell a product.”
Kyrie says KD was not ready to play in the NBA Finals and he was put out to play to "sell a product."
"We all know that K was not ready to play in that environment." He added it was to "sell a product." https://t.co/A3Oxrdt3rc
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) September 27, 2019
Durant and Irving joined the Nets this offseason, creating what could be a formidable duo at some point down the road. For now, though, Durant will be in recovery. In fact, the two-time champion is expected to miss all of this season.
“I’m excited about this group,” Durant told NBC Sports earlier this month. “Obviously, with me not starting off the season and obviously being injured, you’re going to see a lot of guys step up and do some things and go to another level as a player.”
The Nets finished the 2018-19 regular-season campaign with a 42-40 overall record, which earned the team a No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately, though, Brooklyn was defeated by the Philadelphia 76ers in the opening round, 4-1.
