Nets Playoff Hopes Take hit with Kyrie Irving Injury
The Nets just announced that their star point guard Kyrie Irving will have arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder and be out for the remainder of the 2019-20 season.
Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported on Thursday afternoon that Irving was likely to undergo a procedure on his right shoulder and miss some time. The Nets then made it official on Twitter in the evening.
Kyrie Irving missed 26 games earlier this season because of this same shoulder injury. After evaluating all options during his lengthy recovery period, Irving decided to return to the court on January 12 and he even scored a season-high 54 points in a 133-118 win against the Bulls on January 31.
Nets and Kyrie Irving Had Rocky Season
Irving suffered a knee injury in a 113-107 loss against the Wizards on February 1 after falling on top of Bradley Beal and had a knee sprain in the fourth quarter. While he was able to walk around without assistance after the game, he was noticeably limping. He struggled in what would be his last game of the season. Irving was scoreless in the fourth quarter and finished the evening with just 11 points, four rebounds and four assists in 29 minutes.
The 27-year-old is averaging 27.4 points, 6.4 assists and 5.2 rebounds in 32.9 minutes over just 20 games with the Nets. He’s shooting 47.8 percent overall, 39.4 percent from 3-point range and 92.2 percent from the free-throw line. He averaged 21.3 points, 7.0 assists and 4.3 rebounds in 36.7 minutes over nine playoff games with the Celtics last season. He shot just 38.5 percent from the field and 31.0 percent from beyond the arc in those contests.
Not having Irving for the rest of the season is a tough blow for the Nets but they were not expected to contend until Kevin Durant’s return next year. The Nets are 17-16 without Irving and just 8-12 with him (as of February 19).
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