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How did the Brooklyn Nets fare after the transfer of Kyrie Irving? All the pressure on Kevin Durant

Los Brooklyn Nets and the Dallas Mavericks shook the market this Sunday, February 5, with the transfer of Kyrie Irving to the Texan team. And after reviewing the base lace with Luka Doncic and the rest of the team led by Jason Kidd, is also worth put the spotlight on New Yorkers… Still contenders in the Eastern Conference?

In sports and in the short termit is more than clear that Brooklyn loses out of the trade. They lost a star that averaged 27 points with high percentages as Kyrie, replacing him with a good role player as Dorian Finney-Smith and a known scorer in the franchise (but far from a figure) as Spencer Dinwiddie. All in the context of a team that currently has Injured Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons.

The recent history of the Nets without Irving’s KD in the countryside son simply alarming. In 728 possessions without any of them, Brooklyn has a differential of -15.4 for every 100 possessions, scoring just 103.8 points for every 100 plays. To put that number in context, the worst offense in the league (Charlotte) has a rating of 109,6so it is obvious that those stretches of the Nets have been alarming any way you look at them.

Can that change with the arrival of reinforcements like Dinwiddie and Finney-Smith? The first of them has talent to carry the team’s offense as the first option, but only at certain times and not during a series of entire matches. Even if Simmons returns soon (he would return before KD), a team with Dinwiddie, Simmons, Seth Curry and Royce O’Neale pushing the attack will have serious problems staying competitive against much of the league. And while Durant will likely be back after All-Star, margins have narrowed considerably for those directed by Jacque Vaughn.

Without KD healthy and doing his thing, Brooklyn no longer has the firepower to go head-to-head with the Eastern elite. Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Boston and even Cleveland now look a step above them (even complete).

Un Ben Simmons en modo Regular phase with Philadelphia it would be a solution for those limited scoring variants of the Nets. But that player who could score 20 points with some regularity seems to have been left in the past and today Brooklyn has an Australian who, although he continues to impact the game as a passer and defender, is little more than a zero to the left when attacking the hoop. His 10.6 pitches per 100 possessions are the lowest mark of all rostereven well below names like Day’Ron Sharpe, Yuta Watanabe or Edmond Sumner.

Simmons is averaging just 7.4 points this season.

a point of illusion para Brooklyn: The team’s production with Durant on the field and Irving out has been excellent in 2022-2023. In 1214 possessions they record a phenomenal net rating of +9 in those situations. But again, all the trust is deposited in the availability of a player of 34 yearswith a significant injury historythat it is currently not known when exactly it will return to activity.

Irving’s trade request put the Nets against the wall. If they didn’t trade him now, they would lose Kyrie. free in the next Free Agency. The movement is logical, but no less painful for their champion options. In less than 12 months, that Durant, Irving and Harden superteam it has imploded in a way rarely seen in NBA history, with all three stars demanding a trade during that period.

The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the NBA or its organizations.

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