This season's Nets can be said to be ill-fated, in the offseason they have introduced Millsap, Mills, Ade, James Johnson, Bembry, these powerful players, just for the team to improve the depth of the lineup, towards the championship impact, the result was not to think that Irving did not want to vaccinate, even if the recent successful lifting of the ban, but limited by the epidemic prevention regulations, he can only play in the team's away games. The team's big three finally ushered in a fit, and as a result, Durant had another bad pool here, and in the recent game against the Pelicans, Durant suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee and will miss 4-6 weeks.
In durant injury, Irving can only play away games, coupled with Harden's state is not satisfactory, the Nets have recently suffered a wave of 3 consecutive losses, in just 7 days, they gave up their eastern leader position, currently only with a record of 29 wins and 19 losses in the East fifth place, originally thought they would let Irving be able to play one more game in the playoffs, "deliberately" fell out of the top four positions, but did not think that this time they may really be unable to stop the car, considering that the next opponents are warriors, suns The Nets may continue to lose consecutively, falling out of the top six and directly entering the ranks of the playoffs.
If the Nets' decline is really out of control, then Durant is likely to choose to return early, as the absolute core of this Nets, Durant averaged 29.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game this season, not long ago in the absence of Harden and Irving, the Nets are relying on Durant to open the "death mode" again, in order to stabilize the position, his injury is far more harmful to the Nets than Harden and Irving, the two backcourt players.
You should know that as early as the original time for the Warriors, in the finals with the Raptors in 19 years, Durant once returned early with injuries. At that time, Durant suffered a calf muscle strain, and the Warriors had already fallen behind the Raptors by a total score of 1-3, and in the case of one foot already on the edge of the cliff, Durant still chose to force a comeback with an injury in the fifth game, and the result is known to everyone, Durant only played 12 minutes, and then left the court again with an injury, and this time the injury was enough to destroy the Achilles tendon rupture of the athlete's career.
Fortunately, Durant finally overcame this serious injury, and staged the "Return of the King" when wearing the Nets shirt last season, not only successfully overcoming this Achilles heel, but also unexpectedly playing a more efficient attack than before, and this season, if it were not for the absence of the other two members of the Big Three, it is estimated that Nash would not have let Durant become a model worker in the league, before he was injured. Durant's playing time came to 36.5 minutes in the 6th league, the highest value since the 13-14 season, and it was precisely because of the long period of high-intensity combat that Durant was once again plagued by injuries.
Fortunately, this injury is not too serious, but also allows Durant to continue to return this season, if it returns to normal, Durant should usher in a comeback at the end of the regular season, but according to the current situation of the Nets, if the team really loses, Durant is not impossible to choose to come back early in order to turn the tide, and with the previous lessons in the Warriors, Will Nash make such a "sword to the side" move?