NETS’ RELIEF
Kyrie’s scary knee injury proves to be just a sprain
WASHINGTON — An MRI confirmed Kyrie Irving suffered a sprained right knee and he’ll be out at least a week, the Nets announced Sunday.
Irving suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s loss to the Wizards, when the point guard jostled for a rebound with Bradley Beal and fell awkwardly to the court.
Irving left Capital One Arena limping in a knee brace and unsure about the extent of the injury. Tests performed on the scene determined Irving did not tear his ACL, and the MRI news was positive considering it didn’t uncover any other ligament tears.
“I’ve done some things to my knee in the past, so I just wanted make sure my MCL, my ACL and my PCL — I just wanted to make sure the medical staff did their check,” Irving said before the MRI. “And the most important thing was to make sure my ACL was fine. But it was just a weird, weird fall. Just felt like a lot of stretching and tension afterward and it was just a bad fall.”
The Nets announced Irving will be re-evaluated in a week, but that’s often not a good indication of a recovery timeline. The Nets (21-27) have just five games remaining before an eightday All-Star break.
Irving has already missed 28 games this season, including 26 because of a shoulder impingement. He has had two surgeries performed on his left knee since 2015.
The Nets are 13-15 this season without Irving and have two winnable games upcoming against the Suns and Warriors. With Caris LeVert struggling and Taurean Prince unreliable, the Nets have leaned on Spencer Dinwiddie when Irving is out.
“I always say this, we pay 17 guys on the roster. A guy goes down, that’s our job. You have to step up,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “You have to step up to the level of that player you’re replacing or better. That’s our goal. That’s where we want to get to … We have sufficient talent in there and good guys, and good players. Guys will have to step up.”