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The injury bug is starting to bite for the Brooklyn Nets. Guard Kyrie Irving is questionable for Thursday’s game against the Denver Nuggets with a right shoulder impingement, the team announced on Wednesday. The team will already be without guard Caris LeVert, who will miss his second straight game with a right thumb sprain.
Irving played 37 minutes and scored 27 points in Tuesday’s 119-114 loss to the Utah Jazz. There was no mention or update of Kyrie’s injury during the postgame interview with head coach Kenny Atkinson.
Losing Kyrie would be a huge blow to the Nets offense as he has carried the team through the first 10 games of the season. Irving is averaging 29.7 points per game, third-most in the NBA. He has also hit several memorable shots and has fed off the emotion of playing for the first time in his hometown of New York City.
The team’s other big-ticket free agent, Kevin Durant, will miss the entire season with a ruptured Achilles tendon. The Nets have sputtered ab it out of the gates with their new-look lineup and have posted just a 4-6 record thus far. The main issues have come on the defensive end where Brooklyn is allowing 121.4 points per game this season, second-most in the NBA.
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Caris LeVert Goes Down
The Nets are also without guard Caris LeVert, who continues to miss time with a thumb injury. According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, LeVert will miss extended time.
“The Brooklyn Nets fear guard Caris LeVert has ligament damage in his right thumb and he is visiting specialists for further evaluation,” Charania tweeted on Wednesday.
Tuesday’s loss in Salt Lake City is the 79th game LeVert has missed since the team drafted him in 2016. He’s missed at least 20 games in each of his first two seasons in the NBA.
LeVert will never forget November 12, 2018. It was the end of the first half in a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, LeVert went up for a rebound on a missed layup and came down awkwardly on his right ankle. The diagnosis was a broken ankle, costing LeVert about half of the season.
Besides the ankle injury in 2018-19, LeVert also had an injury scare this preseason, albeit a minor one. He was forced to leave the Nets’ preseason opener against the Lakers after getting poked in the eye.
Backcourt Options for Brooklyn
If Irving and LeVert are both out on Thursday, the burden will shift to Spencer Dinwiddie, Taurean Prince and Joe Harris, who are the other three leading scorers for Brooklyn. Dinwiddie has shown the most punch, averaging 17.1 points per game, second-best on the team. The veteran has been mostly used off the bench this season.
Harris and Prince have been effective from the outside. The duo has knocked down a combined 56 three-pointers this season. Harris is shooting at a solid 49-percent from behind the arc.
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