Brooklyn Nets Getting Trio of Huge Stars Back On The Roster

 

The Brooklyn Nets were easily one of the hardest-hit teams by the wave of COVID infections that overtook the NBA this month. Great news comes their way on Tuesday, however, as Kevin Durant, LaMarcus Aldridge, and yes, even Kyrie Irving have cleared health and safety protocols. 

The Nets say Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and LaMarcus Aldridge have cleared the health and safety protocols.

— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) December 28, 2021

Durant has missed the last three games after going into protocols ten days ago, while Aldridge has been out for two weeks. 

As for Kyrie, he's been out since, well... last season. Irving, of course, was banished by the Nets at the beginning of the season, for his anti-vax stance which left him ineligible to play in home games due to the New York City vaccine mandate. They claimed they didn't want any "part-time players" around their squad. 

But in the face of a shorthanded roster this month, the Nets caved, and, somewhat controversially, accepted Kyrie back into the fold ten days ago. Naturally, he immediately tested positive for Covid and had to go straight into health and safety protocols. But now those ten days are up, and he can actually join his teammates for practice. 

It likely won't be an immediate return for Irving, as he's clearly not in NBA game condition, having sat out the entire season thus far. Head coach Steve Nash indicated last week about his return timeline, "I would say probably somewhere between a week and two weeks. He's obviously been isolating so that kind of puts another layer to the ramp-up. It's not like he's been working out so probably I'd imagine it's going to be closer to two weeks once he comes out of protocols. 

"We'll just have to see how it goes, though, because we have to evaluate him from a physical and performance standpoint and a basketball standpoint as well."

The Nets next game is Thursday against the Philadelphia 76ers. 

Photo Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports