When Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant decided to team up together with the Brooklyn Nets this offseason, the thought of championships raced through the fans' minds. After the team's 22-point win against the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday, Irving echoed those championship hopes.

“The culture here is we want to be a championship-level organization, and we want to do that for the next few years of us competing, and when I’m done playing basketball that this culture here will still be consistent. That’s what I’m after. That’s a long-term goal,” Irving said, per Michael Scotto of Bleacher Report.

Irving made his return to the lineup for the Nets on Sunday after missing the last 25 games with a right shoulder injury. In just 20 minutes, the 6-foot-2 point guard sliced the Hawks defense for 21 points, four rebounds and three assists.

In his first season with the Nets, the six-time All-Star has put up a career-high 28.5 points and 7.2 assists per game despite only playing 11 games.

However, as a whole, injuries have diminished or at least delayed Brooklyn's championship aspirations. Superstar Kevin Durant won't be healthy until next season and as mentioned before, Kyrie Irving has dealt with his fair share of injuries this 2019-20 campaign and throughout his career.

Without their two best players for most of the year, the Nets have still managed to hang around playoff contention in the Eastern Conference. At 17-20, they are currently slotted as the eighth seed.

Expectations for the Nets in the future will likely be sky-high. A return to the finals would be the franchise's first since they went to back-to-back in 2002 and 2003. Additionally, the Brooklyn hasn't actually won a championship since 1976.