Injuries
The Brooklyn Nets had almost half of their roster out last season due to injuries, but entering the 2020-21 NBA season, it seems like everyone is again at full strength and ready to contend. Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, DeAndre Jordan, Caris LeVert, Wilson Chandler, and Nicolas Claxton all missed significant time last season due to injury, resulting in the Nets being swept in the first round of the playoffs.
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving obviously highlight those returning for the Brooklyn Nets this upcoming season as they both have championship rings to prove their success. Durant has not played since Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals where suffered an Achilles injury that kept him out of all of last year. Before the injury, Durant was still playing at a high-level and perhaps some of the best basketball of his career.
Now entering his 14th year in the league, the most impressive aspect of the future Hall-of-Famer’s career is that he has never averaged less than 20 points a game in a season. He is arguably one of the greatest scorers in the history of the NBA and the best player in the entire league when he is healthy. At close to 7-feet tall and with the scoring abilities he possesses, it is impossible to guard Kevin Durant, you just have to hope he misses.
Kyrie Irving has been dealing with injuries for the last few years and last year was no different. He dealt with a right shoulder issue last season until he underwent right shoulder surgery to relieve a right shoulder impingement. Since being traded to Boston ahead of the 2017-18 season, Kyrie Irving has not played in a full season which can be worrisome to Nets fans.
It seems like he has been labeled as injury prone now across the league and is something to watch for this season to see if he can remain healthy. If he can, his scoring abilities paired with Kevin Durant’s could make for one of the greatest “one-two” punches in NBA history. Irving has averaged just over 22 points per game over the course of his 9-year career and with some of the best handles in the league, there is no stopping this guy when he gets in his groove.
Caris LeVert, Spencer Dinwiddie and DeAndre Jordan are all X-factors for the Brookly Nets in their own ways as well. It would not be surprising to see Caris Levert be the third best scoring option on the Nets this upcoming season because of how talented and how good this guy is becoming.
LeVert is entering his fifth season at the NBA level and he has drastically improved every year. Entering the league with a lot of question marks surrounding his injury history, a lot of teams slept on him, resulting in him slipping to No. 20 pick in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft. The Nets took a chance on him and boy has it paid off.
LeVert averaged 18.7 points per game last season and shot the ball around 42.5% from the field, 36.4% from deep. In the playoffs is where LeVert broke out as he averaged upwards of 20 points per game, with his best game coming against the Toronto Raptors in Game 4 of the first-round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, where he scored 35 points (11-23 FG) and had 6 rebounds plus 6 assists.
The young wing scorer in double-figures in every game for the Nets in the NBA Bubble and should continue to grow as all the attention will be on Durant and Irving, allowing LeVert to be the high-level scorer he can be.
