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Brooklyn Nets fans have been through a series of peaks and valleys over the last 12 months.
The Nets have gone from looking like NBA title contenders, to appearing set for a rebuild, and back to title contenders in record speed.
Most recently, the Nets had truly hit their stride. With Kyrie Irving’s antisemitism a thing of the past, Kevin Durant back and bought in, and Jacques Vaughn replacing Steve Nash, the Nets were rolling.
Brooklyn won nine of its last 10 games and currently sits just one game behind the Boston Celtics for the best record in the NBA. Meanwhile, Durant is locked in and Irving is trying to make up for his earlier misdeeds.
But there’s a catch. There’s always a catch. The one thing seemingly capable of stopping the Nets right now is injuries. And that’s exactly what happened.
Kevin Durant Knee Injury Has Fans In A State Of Disbelief
Durant left Brooklyn’s 102-101 victory over the Miami Heat after appearing to tweak his right knee midway through the third quarter.
The 12-time NBA All-Star sprained the same last season and missed six weeks. This time, it doesn’t appear quite as bad. But he’s still expected to miss some time.
Breaking: Kevin Durant has been diagnosed with an isolated MCL sprain of the right knee and he'll be re-evaluated in two weeks, the Nets announced.
There's optimism Durant will miss less time than he did with a six-week absence last season, according to @wojespn. pic.twitter.com/7eLYBOKluG
— ESPN (@espn) January 9, 2023
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Durant will miss at least two weeks due to the injury before being re-evaluated.
Nets were not at all happy about the news.
https://twitter.com/hassenjelil/status/1612511825840463876?s=20&t=duISjVcVki_YOKgdUDFGiA
Why does this happen every year https://t.co/ZT0BolRILu pic.twitter.com/1B55Hpt8fu
— Xunami (@africanhooper4) January 9, 2023
— Black Larry David 🇬🇭 (@Prodbykojo) January 9, 2023
the brooklyn nets were a psychological experiment conducted to study how much mental anguish otherwise healthy individuals can tolerate
this concludes the brooklyn nets https://t.co/hqD8evDyan
— max rodriguez (@njmaxrod) January 9, 2023
it's only two weeks https://t.co/nkS2WTO92w pic.twitter.com/proEX60Z0C
— SamY (@UmwamiUganjeII) January 9, 2023
There is good news for Nets fans, however. Wojnarowski reports that it’s unlikely Durant will miss as much time as he did a year ago.
While Kevin Durant did miss six weeks with a left MCL sprain a season ago, there’s optimism that this is a less severe injury unlikely to cost him more than a month on the sidelines, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/Dd5jU6bZkd
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 9, 2023
“While Kevin Durant did miss six weeks with a left MCL sprain a season ago, there’s optimism that this is a less severe injury unlikely to cost him more than a month on the sidelines, sources tell ESPN,” he said in a tweet.
Either way, the injury comes at a time where Brooklyn just appears to be hitting its stride.