Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving
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Kyrie Irving and the rest of the Brooklyn Nets are going to give Kevin Durant as much time as he needs to recover from his Achilles injury.

As expected, Kevin Durant‘s rehab status was a major topic of conversation at Brooklyn Nets media day. His teammate, Kyrie Irving, wants everyone to know that there is no pressure on Durant to return early.

Irving even claimed that Durant wasn’t ready in the NBA Finals when he suffered his ruptured Achilles.

Irving started to go deeper into why Durant ended up playing in the Finals and suffering the Achilles injury. The point guard made it clear that this kind of pressure would not be put on Durant in Brooklyn.

“Naturally I think you have to go inside the mind of a competitor and realize that a lot of people having responsibilities for why that ended up happening the way it happened on a national scale,” Irving told reporters. “We all know [Durant] was not ready to play in that environment,” Irving said. “He was out 31 days and we put him on a national stage in the Finals to end up selling a product that came before the person Kevin. And now I’m here to protect that.”

Irving and the rest of the Nets understand that they can’t reach their best level without Durant, but they are putting the person before the player. The former Boston Celtic also said that he wants Durant to be “101%” before he plays again.

The All-Star point guard is echoing the sentiment of general manager Sean Marks. Earlier this week, Marks told reporters that Durant will have full control over when he returns from this injury. They expect Durant to miss the entire 2019-20 season.

NY/NJ hoops reporter (NBA/NCAA) & sports betting writer for XL Media. Never had the makings of a varsity athlete.