The Brooklyn Nets are in first place at 21-8, and they're road warriors, having won 11 out of 14 games on the road. Things may be getting even easier for them with reports confirming that they're going to let Kyrie Irving play in road games at some point in the future.
Things now are a bit hairy for Brooklyn. Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and James Harden have all tested positive for COVID. They join a handful of other rotation players in the league's health and safety protocols. The team has a game on Saturday against the Orlando Magic but they certainly won't have their normal group. Although that did not slow them down in wins over the Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers.
Before the Orlando game, head coach Steve Nash addressed reporters about the Nets' shocking decision to change their organizational stance on Irving and let him rejoin the team for games he's eligible to appear in. To this point, Irving has been unavailable despite being allowed to play in cities other than New York and Toronto.
“I'm excited to have Kyrie back obviously. He's an incredible player,” said Steve Nash. “No matter what capacity, we incorporate him in, it's just a positive for our group. Knowing that we first took the decision not to have him with us for continuity at the onset of the season and frankly continuity has been thrown out the window with COVID and injuries and whatnot. So I think it's important for us to use all the resources we have to navigate the season and we're putting an extra strain on a lot of our guys.”
GM Sean Marks addressed reporters shortly before Nash and he had a similar statement with regard to the Nets not wanting Irving to upset their continuity, but then eventually losing their continuity anyway.
Is there concern about reintegrating an unvaccinated player in the middle of a relentless pandemic that's hitting the entire NBA, and might that present a greater risk to Irving himself?
“It's something to consider,” admitted Nash. “Having said that he's a young man in great health so I think the odds of him having something difficult or catastrophic happen are small. But yeah, this virus concerns me in every corner and aspect of its short life so far so that's a concern but it's also a concern for the vaccinated. So it's just something that we're having to live with in our world these days. And so we'll proceed and do the best to protect and care for everyone but this is what it is. We can take as many precautions as we can and we should but we're not gonna be able to change it all every day. It's just a part of how we're gonna have to deal with life moving forward.”
Nash did not want to speculate about how the Nets lineup might look for the playoffs. He said the world was so uncertain that he's mostly focusing on the present.
“Down the road, I don't know what we're dealing with,” said Nash. “I don't know what the protocols will be, I don't know what the league will look like, the world will look like, the playoffs are so far off. I think we just cross the first bridge of getting Kyrie back incorporated into this group.”
The fact that Irving recently tested positive means that this won't happen right away. Nevertheless, a return of the “big three” is now on the horizon, and this would certainly ease the scoring and minutes burden Kevin Durant (first overall in points, 29.7 ppg, second overall in the league in minutes, 37.0 mpg) has taken on; and strike fear into the heart's of their opponents.