Kyrie Irving’s first season as a Brooklyn Net has come to an end.
On Thursday, Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks confirmed Irving will have arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder and will miss the rest of the season.
Playing without Kevin Durant (Achilles) alongside him, Irving played in just 20 games throughout the season, 12 of which the Nets (25-29) lost. Though they lost last night without him, the Nets have actually been better off when Irving has been out this season and are .500 if he isn’t in the lineup. That’s been a theme with teams Irving has played for recently.
Missed games are nothing new for Irving, as the 27-year-old has averaged 27.6 missed games per season over the last five regular seasons.
The Nets were a playoff team without Irving last year and still have many of the core players, including Spencer Dinwiddie, Caris LeVert, Joe Harris and Jarrett Allen, who led them to the postseason last season on the roster. New additions like DeAndre Jordan and Taurean Prince should help the seventh-place Nets get back there this season, sans Irving and Durant.
“I think our approach obviously is that it’s unfortunate, and it sucks, but we feel confident in the group that we have to be competitive,” Harris said. “We still look at it like this is an opportunity for everybody in this locker room. We’re trying to make a push for the playoffs. We aren’t there yet. We are obviously sitting in a good spot in terms of being in the playoff race, but we are not satisfied with that. We know the second half of the year is big for everybody, and obviously the last 25 games are a chance for us to make a push and try to get better.”
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