The Brooklyn Nets are a bit shorthanded these days. But still, at 14-6, they find themselves in first place of the Eastern Conference ahead of a divisional showdown with the New York Knicks. They won't be at full strength ahead of this battle of the boroughs, though.
Steve Nash's squad is down a few players due to a combination of injury, illness, and vaccination status. It's that last one that has dominated headlines, and for good reason. The Nets have leaned on their superstar and MVP candidate in Kevin Durant to get to this point. It's a stark contrast since the two-time NBA Finals MVP only played in half of the regular season games a season ago. He's now going full throttle pretty early in the year.
Durant is averaging 35.6 minutes per game, his most since the 2015-2016 season. He has only missed one contest to deal with a nagging shoulder injury. It's safe to say that if Kyrie Irving was available, KD would have played fewer minutes and perhaps even taken on some softer defensive assignments, too.
Before Tuesday's game, Nash was asked if he felt he was pushing his star given some key absences by other Nets players.
“Yeah I mean it's not ideal to have such a burden (on Durant),” admitted Nash. “But I don't know what options we have other than to play him less and lose more. He's a great player and we're down a few, a great player (in Irving) and a really good player (in Joe Harris, now out at least one month after ankle surgery), a few others, so I don't know if we have the luxury right now.”
"It's not ideal to have… such a burden but I don't know what options we have other than to play him less and lose more. He's a great player and we're down a great player and a really good player…."#Nets Steve Nash on possibly relying too much on Kevin Durant pic.twitter.com/XqdeWp7JaX
— DaveEarly (@DavidEarly) November 30, 2021
It's a bit surprising to hear Steve Nash put it all so bluntly. For him to admit that if they played KD less they'd lose more is obvious, but it's still not the type of thing coaches usually says—preferring to bolster their other players.
It doesn't feel like a stretch to say there is probably some real organizational frustration regarding Irving's anti-vaccine mandate stance. Maybe we're projecting a bit and that's not what Nash meant to convey at all. But it's not hard to imagine that behind closed doors, the Nets have been more than a little disappointed this has dragged on as long as it has with no end in sight.
Is there any communication with Irving these days? “No update, we stay in touch, but no update,” added Nash.
For now, the Nets will look to stay in first place. But it seems they would rather be able to do that without pushing their MVP candidate so hard in the process.
Follow Us
Subscribe