The Brooklyn Nets will be without their two superstars in the ongoing season. Still, in rehabilitation mode, Kevin Durant is unlikely to return, and Kyrie Irving is joining him on the sidelines. Brooklyn announced Irving will undergo surgery and he will be out for the remainder of the current campaign.
The Brooklyn star's shoulder injury was aggravated by his recent return to action, and Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson confirmed the surgery lined up for Irving is meant to repair the damage permanently. Atkinson said Irving is out indefinitely.
Already, the All-Star was forced to 25 games in the season, and Irving revealed "an impingement in his right shoulder," was bothering him.
"It's the first time I've ever had such a significant feeling in my shoulder where I'm going up to shoot jump shots and I can't really lift my shoulder," Bleacher Report quoted Irving as saying.
Nonetheless, the reported noted that the NBA champ played to expectation in the short time that he returned to court. In the nine games that Irving saw action, his shooting percentage was at 53 percent that led to 26 points per game and 5.4 assists.
Notably, Irving's presence on the court resulted in seven wins in the last 10 games. He certainly will be missed as the Nets will need to win as many as possible in the last 29 games the team will need to play without Irving.
The value of Irving to Brooklyn's cause was recently highlighted when the Nets won over the Chicago Bulls. In that game, the former Cavs made 54 points, and the feat was achieved with a hurting shoulder.
That amount of contribution will be lost for the season, but the Nets are looking for the long-term good of the surgery that Irving will have to get. CBS Sports said the damage absorbed by Irving's shoulder got aggravated over time and the repair is expected to correct the problem permanently.
While Brooklyn played relatively well in the games where both Durant and Irving were not around, the latter's forced sidelining will surely impact on the plans laid out by the club.
"It's just a bummer and further dampens the mood surrounding this grand plan in Brooklyn," CBS added on its report.
It was clear for the Nets that without KD, the current season will not be too promising, but the shoulder struggle by Irving will likely raise questions even after the surgery and rehabilitation. At the very least, Brooklyn executives have something to worry about, short and long term, for both Durant and Irving.
"It's looking increasingly likely that they'll have nothing to show for the first season with this new duo, and now both of their stars may have injury question marks heading into next season," said the same report.
