Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving has yet to resume contact activities on the court after missing the last eight games due to a shoulder impingement. Irving will miss his ninth consecutive game when the Nets face the Miami Heat on Sunday afternoon.
Although Irving is working out on the court, he is not at the stage where he can take contact:
Kyrie Irving (shoulder impingement) still isn’t doing any contact work on the court, Kenny Atkinson says. Irving has started to do some on-court exercises.
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) December 1, 2019
The extent of Irving's injury is somewhat unknown. Although it is certainly a positive sign that he can get back to basketball activities, he obviously cannot play again until he proves that he can take contact.
The Nets have actually had good team success without Irving on the floor, which serves as another reason to exercise more caution. The Nets are 6-2 in their last eight games, including a bounce-back win at home over the Boston Celtics after dropping the road half of the set.
Kyrie's absence from the floor has not kept him out of the spotlight, however. Celtics fans repeatedly chanted his name and mocked him with signs before he took to Instagram to provide a lengthy story about sports and entertainment being “ignorant and obtrusive.” Irving showed his old teammates love on Friday, but most of the focus was on his strange diatribe.
Irving has been impressive when healthy. The six-time All-Star was averaging 28.5 points, 7.2 assists and 5.4 rebounds through his first 11 games, though the individual excellence did not result in team success.
Now that the Nets have climbed back above the .500 mark (10-9) and into the playoff picture, they will hope for a healthy Irving to galvanize the rest of the roster upon his return, whenever that may be.
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