Irving’s on-off status not worth problems it will create for Nets
Kyrie Irving is back, sort of, ready to play the awkward role of part-time all-star and disregarding the certainty of a full-time headache. The Brooklyn Nets, just another sports franchise wobbling through the pandemic, think they need him under inconvenient conditions more than they need their COVID-19 principles. Like records, the rules and standards of sports teams are meant to be broken.
The game is the game. Talent rules the game, and necessity trumps all idealistic visions. Sports always have been pliable in that way. To date, no issue or circumstance has changed that mentality — especially in the pros, where there’s so much success and money and fame at stake. When Irving refused to take a coronavirus vaccine despite a New York City mandate that would make him ineligible to play home games, the Nets decided to sit him and avoid the disruption of a player who could participate only on the road. It was an appropriate, even admirable stance in response to his lack of interest in making a sound decision that would benefit the team. But if this temporary breakup resembled a stare down, it was inevitable that Brooklyn would blink first.
The season was destined to make the Nets reconsider. And the shortsighted, competitive nature of pro teams made it easy to predict that Part-time Kyrie would be a thing this season. Irving made his season debut Wednesday at Indiana, starting and scoring 22 points in 32 minutes in the Nets’ 129-121 victory.
“Incredibly grateful just to be back in the building, welcomed back with open arms from my teammates, the whole entire organization,” Irving said last week. “I’m not going to lie, it’s been relatively tough to watch from the sidelines. With everything going on in the world, I know that everybody is feeling it, and I’m just praying for everybody to be healthy during these times. But if I get an opportunity to play with my teammates, even if it’s on the road for away games, I’m grateful for the opportunity.”
He’s saying the right things and sounding like a 35-game absence has left him humbled and focused. The Nets, including superstars Kevin Durant and James Harden, are excited to play with him again. The NBA, which is out of sync like every sport as it tries to survive a wave of positive tests, player absences and postponements, could use the return of a polarizing Big Three. But all of the intrigue and good intentions pale in comparison to the difficulty of what Brooklyn is attempting to do.
There is a reason the Nets were adamant about not going this route with Irving. Unless New York abruptly changes its mandate in the middle of this omicron variant chaos, here’s a peek at Irving’s availability as he tries to reestablish chemistry with his team. He played Wednesday in Indianapolis. Then he would have to miss two home games before being available to play again Monday at Portland and the following Wednesday in Chicago. Then he wouldn’t be able to play until the next Monday in Cleveland, which is the beginning of a fourgame road trip.
Let’s break it down another way. Before that lengthy road trip, the Nets are scheduled to play seven games in 11 nights. Irving can participate in only three of those games. If the Nets commit to Part-time Kyrie, the lack of rhythm and lineup shuffling will continue for the rest of the season. And with a prominent unvaccinated player on the roster — one who tested positive as soon as he returned to the team — the Nets will need to be extremely diligent in adhering to all of their health and safety protocols.
This is no way to build momentum as the second half of the season nears. Brooklyn is willing to take the risk because this phase of the pandemic has forced every team to live game-togame and deal with the personnel mayhem. The Nets must figure that this is the season to buck convention because COVID is ruining all plans anyway. With 10-day hardship contracts so common, the luxury of having Irving serve as an elite temp must seem enticing.
But as with everything involving Irving, it’s far more complicated than that. Of course he’s better than a G League call-up or a discarded veteran. But he’s Kyrie Irving, a founding member of what the Nets hope to be a championship trio, not merely an emergency option. The Nets could sign Langston Galloway with the understanding that he’s there to help them get through a tough time. When Irving takes the court, he’s a headliner for which coach Steve Nash, as well as co-stars Durant and Harden, will want to leave space. And Irving will occupy that space, sometimes as impressively as ever, and that will make his absences even harder to handle.
He wants to make it work. The team wants to help him make it work. But if the goal is to win a championship, it’s preposterous to suggest that this situation will help the Nets build a consistent approach and a clear identity by playoff time. And in the postseason, Irving still would be a part-time player.
But for a 23-12 team on a three-game losing streak, Irving’s return is a welcome boost.
“It’s always good to have new energy, but more than anything he’s an efficient player that can put pressure on the defense and a good defender as well, so we’re just looking forward to what he brings as a player,” Durant said after Monday’s loss to Memphis.
The question Brooklyn doesn’t want to answer, for now: What happens after the temporary high? The Nets have a tendency to be a sleepy, low-energy team that waits for Durant or Harden to give them a jolt. Now they’ll have, at times, three energizers. But they won’t be on the court together enough to build ideal chemistry. They’re talented and unselfish, so they can take turns and figure out a way to keep one another happy. But the ultimate aspiration should be to function as a star collective capable of elevating the entire team. With this setup, that seems impossible.
“As far as the energy, you got to bring your own energy as an individual and bring that to the collective and we’ll see what happens, but just keep building,” Durant said.
The Nets cannot build the way they want. They’re plugging holes, trying to stay afloat. It may help them win a few more games and avoid some of the hazards of this challenging season. But they are supposed to have a Big Three, and this Big-Twoand-a-Half compromise won’t cut it.