It’s officially on to next season for the Brooklyn Nets. The shoulder that has been ailing Kyrie Irving all season long is officially sidelining him until next year with him opting to have surgery on it.
It’s a surgery Irving should’ve had a long time ago, but waited until the very last moment to actually go through with. Now, he’s out for the season because of that.
This is all part of a pattern with Irving. In each of the last three seasons, Irving has been plagued by injuries that have kept him out for different periods of time.
This season has obviously been worse than others — he’ll only play 20 games this year. But these injuries aren’t anything new. They’ve been piling up since his Freshman year at Duke.
An incomplete list of Kyrie Irving injuries since his freshman year at Duke…
R Shoulder
L Shoulder
R Hand
L Hand
R Knee
L Knee
R Quad
L Quad
L Thigh
R Foot
Toe
Back
Face (x3? 4?)
Concussion— Ryan Bernardoni (@dangercart) February 20, 2020
There are so many injuries there – and they vary so much – that it’s easy to write many of them off as “freak” injuries or bad luck. But after a certain point, this becomes more than luck.
Kyrie Irving is an injury-prone player. As he’s progressed in his career, the wear and tear has gotten worse and worse and now, with his shoulder, the bubble has finally burst.
This is something that the Nets should be worried about. By season’s end, Irving will be 28 years old in year one of a four year commitment to the Nets. By the time that deal is over, he’ll be 32. He’s already committed to his first major surgery with the Nets.
We’ve seen this story before. The same things have happened with Dwyane Wade and Allen Iverson. Other guards who weren’t scared to drive into the lane amongst the trees and try and finish over the top. As entertaining and amazing as they were, they also cut their primes short with major injuries to different points of their bodies.
That’s a scary situation for the Nets to be in. Not only do they have an injury-prone guard who could slow down at any moment, but they also have the league’s former best player coming back from an Achilles injury – one that has been historically difficult to come back from – at 31 years old. I’m not going to be the guy who doubts Kevin Durant here, but it’s easy to do so when you look at conventional wisdom.
The Nets went from “best Summer ever” vibes to potentially being in a situation that might be tough to get out of in a year or two so quickly. Best case scenario is that Durant comes back looking like his old self and Irving’s shoulder ends up being nothing.
Worst case? Man, things could get ugly. For the Nets, let’s hope they don’t.
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