The Brooklyn Nets are short on bodies. Kyrie Irving remains unavailable due to vaccination status. Joe Harris is still recovering from ankle surgery. Both of those players' names have popped up in trade rumors recently as well. And that was before a COVID-19 surge hit the fully vaccinated members of the team.

Just about one hour before their last contest, a thrilling 131-129 overtime win over the visiting Toronto Raptors, we also learned that James Harden and Bruce Brown tested positive as well. Lots of sports teams, not just in the NBA are dealing with breakthrough COVID cases as Delta and Omicron variants spread.

But the Nets have so many absences now they even signed Langston Galloway using a hardship exception just to field bodies for games that should probably be postponed anyway.

Prior to Tuesday's game, before he knew anything about Harden and Brown, Nets head coach Steve Nash addressed reporters.

“It's a tricky situation, trying to navigate a season, navigate a night within a week within a season, trying to protect these guys as much as possible. There will be opportunities for some guys and we'll just do the best we can.”

The opportunity came for some members of the team who have not been a part of the rotation recently.

Blake Griffin, who has been benched for his poor play, got a chance to show he's still someone who can provide a spark. Griffin had 13 points, six assists, five boards, hit 2-of-4 from distance and even had some Blue Collar Boys Club hustle plays that got his coach and the fans fired up.

“You got, I dunno how many years BG's been in the league,” said Nash after the game. “But you got a vet out here diving 30 feet away from the ball, sprinting after it, diving for it, knocking it out of bounds and just showing how much he wants it and setting an example for his teammates. And I wanted the crowd to give it up for him, for the effort he made, but also the effort these guys made all night to hang in there with a short bench,” said Nash.

Rookie Kessler Edwards was also active and produced, flashing athleticism and touch. Kessler had 17 points and 10 rebounds, knocking down three important triples too.

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Still, as exciting as the game was, and as much of a bonding experience it was for the active Nets to get out there shorthanded and secure a thrilling win, there is still this somber and chilling vibe present as well. The pandemic rages on and is impacting even fully vaccinated players and coaches.

“It's a new normal but it's scary,” explained Nash prior to the game. “Cause I don't know that there's an end in sight. This is kind of the world we may live for, you know, indefinitely. We've all been affected by this, you know I've lost family members. The day-to-day life even if you haven't lost people has changed and may not go back to what it was, for, like I said, indefinitely.”

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Nash talked about the need to balance safety and mental health in a world with so much unknown.

“Just concerned for the approach to the unknown,” said the head coach. “There's so much unknown and approaching that becomes very difficult when it's unknown. So I just hope that we can continue to find commonality with the approach, and protect as many people as possible and put health and safety as high as we possibly can without people completely losing their mental health or productivity or whatever it may be, and that's a tough balance to find.”

How Kyrie Irving, unvaccinated, fits into this equation is another puzzle. It's difficult to imagine Nash or those above him on the Nets' totem pole would feel great allowing Irving around the team before he were vaccinated. There was talk recently about “renewed optimism” that Kyrie could return. But based on Nash's comments, it doesn't seem as if the team would change their stance, which currently forbids Irving from practicing with the team and appearing in road games.

If there were even a thought that an unvaccinated player could bring more viral exposure than they're already facing, it would probably be a non-starter for Nets Governors Joe and Clara Wu Tsai.

Even though vaccines may not fully protect people from contracting COVID and its variants, the Nets may refuse to change their minds on allowing an unvaccinated player to reintegrate with the team for practices and road games.

But like Nash alludes to, this is something that has impacted all of us and has no immediate resolution. That's pretty scary.