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FILE – Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving (11) and Kevin Durant react towards the Boston Celtics within the second half of Game 5 throughout an NBA basketball first-round playoff sequence, Tuesday, June 1, 2021, in New York.
AP Photograph/Adam Starvation, File
BROOKLYN — There was little shock when the NBA on TNT hosts introduced that Nets superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving had been each named starters for this 12 months’s NBA All-Star Game going down in Utah. Each gamers have been having sturdy seasons for the Nets and have been a giant a part of their resurgence after stumbling out of the gate.
Durant is making his thirteenth All-Star look and his third straight as a member of the Nets and Irving will probably be making his eighth journey to the All-Star festivities. The announcement got here lower than a half hour earlier than Brooklyn hosted the Detroit Pistons at Barclays Middle.
There was some thought that Durant may have earned sufficient votes to be named a crew captain, however Giannis Antetokounmpo will function the Jap Convention captain. The Nets, nonetheless, are the one crew with two gamers headed to the All-Star Game this season.
It’s unclear if Durant will probably be wholesome sufficient to participate on this 12 months’s festivities whereas he recovers from an MCL sprain he suffered earlier this month. The Nets’ cornerstone participant is claimed to be progressing as anticipated and he will probably be re-evaluated in two weeks.
When he spoke with reporters earlier this week, it sounded as if he needed to have the ability to play within the NBA All-Star Game.
“I want to play in tomorrow if I can. So, that’s what my sense of urgency is,” Durant stated on Tuesday. “Obviously I don’t want to rush anything. I want to make sure I’m 100 percent. But yeah, I want to play. I want to be a part of all these events. I missed going back to Golden State my previous home. So, it’s been three years since I did that. You see all this stuff pass you by so I want to participate in everything. I know I got to take my time and make sure I do my rehab and get back on the floor.”
Durant is averaging 29.7 factors (eighth within the league and fourth within the East), 6.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.5 blocks (ninth within the league) in 36.0 minutes per recreation. Irving has averaged 26.8 factors (thirteenth within the league and eighth within the East), 5.1 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.0 steals in 36.9 minutes per recreation (fourth within the league), whereas capturing 48.7 p.c from the sphere.