Kyrie Irving Not Being Selfish, Warriors KD Are Nets Obstacles: Tiki Barber

Getty Images Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving went live on Instagram before their first preseason game of 2020-2021

The Brooklyn Nets have Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on their roster and the two form a dynamic duo under head coach Steve Nash.

Durant injured his right Achilles during Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals while he was still a member of the Golden State Warriors and the Dubs were playing against the Kawhi Leonard, Kyrle Lowry-led Toronto Raptors.

Prior to his Achilles injury, Durant suffered a mild calf sprain. Durant opted to have surgery and later signed with the Nets last offseason.

“It feels like eternity,” Durant told Nets teammate, Kyrie Irving via Instagram Live last weekend.

“It’s been 18 months.

“We here now. We might as well lock in.”

Kyrie Irving had season-ending surgery on a nagging shoulder impingement last season after only playing in 20 games.

Irving averaged 27.4 points, 6.4 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game.

Million Dollar Question: Will the duo of Irving and Durant click right away?

GettyKevin Durant and Kyrie Irving teamed up on the Nets.

“You know what, I think it’s going to be that way for everybody,” New York Giants legend and CBS Sports Radio host, Tiki Barber told me on the Heavy Live With Scoop B Show.

“It’s just a weird season, right? Because I feel like the season ended yesterday. But certainly there’s an acclimation period and it could be a little rough. Because we remember what KD was really good at when he was in Golden State. Less so when he was in Oklahoma City because that was a lot of iso. He’d take a rebound or pass and come all the way up the court and run right to his spot and stop dribbling and take the shot, right? It was iso. But in Golden State, it was movement. It was running around screens, you’re back picking and you’re doing all these different things to find the open guy and the right shot was always taken which and often with KD because once KD was on his spot, it’s the RIGHT shot regardless of who was guarding him. I think in Brooklyn now, and Mike D’Antoni coming from Houston who had this more free flowing — if you can take a high percentage layup or 3-pointer, then take it. There’s NO such thing as a bad 3-point shot. They’re going to have some troubles pulling KD back to what he used to be and Kyrie not being a selfish point guard; which is hard. Remember when Kyrie was in Cleveland and LeBron James came back to Cleveland and it was a game… I think it was a preseason game — if it wasn’t, it might’ve been early in the season that first year when LeBron came back and Kyrie took like, 20 shots and finished the game with zero assists. ZERO!! He’s a point guard with zero assists. And it became public and LeBron was like, “Kyrie, you will NEVER finish a game again with zero assists. It is your job to facilitate for everyone else. You have a ton of skill to create, you suck defenders to you… kick it out to somebody that’s open. Trust your teammates.” And so, this trust quotient is something that’s going to take some time in one: a new offense and also a new superstar teammate in KD. But it’s going to be fun. They’re going to be one of the funner teams, plus they have my boy from Virginia; Joe Harris the sharpshooter that they held on to. I like their squad but, they have a lot of melding and growing together to do.”