Even with the Kyrie Irving drama heading into the 2021-22 NBA regular season, the Brooklyn Nets got off to a fantastic start to start paving the way towards the postseason, in which they'll try to leave behind the last playoffs' frustration.
The fact that the Nets are sitting atop the Eastern Conference standings with a 15-6 record is quite impressive, considering everything they've gone through so far. But behind the great moment there's also concern around Kevin Durant's playing time.
The 33-year-old has been forced to carry the team on his shoulders and was loaded with a lot of minutes this season while Irving is out. Nets head coach Steve Nash knows it and he got brutally honest to explain this decision.
Nets coach Steve Nash says he has no option but to play Kevin Durant a lot
After playing only half of the regular season games last season, things have taken a huge twist for KD in the ongoing campaign. Durant has been given much more workload as he's averaging 35.8 minutes per game.
Of course, the fact that the Nets are missing Irving among other big names looks like the main reason why Durant is having so little rest. “Yeah I mean it’s not ideal to have such a burden (on Durant),” Nash said in a press conference.
And that's when he got completely frank about why the Nets lean on Durant so much. “But I don’t know what options we have other than to play him less and lose more. He’s a great player and we’re down a few, a great player and a really good player, a few others, so I don’t know if we have the luxury right now.”
Kevin Durant speaks up on playing so much for the Nets
As great as it may be for the Nets to record many good results, the fact that they heavily depend on Durant to pick up victories could be something that worries fans. Especially because they feel he could use more rest. But KD made clear he enjoys playing as much as he can.
“I’m a basketball player. I enjoy to play. I wanna play for 48 minutes. That’s just what it is,” he said following the Nets' win over the New York Knicks on Tuesday. “And I know a lot of people ― I don’t even know if they’re concerned or not, it’s just a conversation to have: I’m playing more minutes and I’m coming off an injury and all this other stuff, but I like to play, and if I can convince coach to play me the whole second half sometimes and put me in earlier in quarters, I’m gonna do it. It don’t matter. My basketball life is not that long, so I’m gonna get the most out of it."
Well, if Durant feels that confident about all the workload he's been given this season, it should obviously be a relief for the Nets. Still, it's also true that they must take care of him if they want to have a deep run this year.
