The Brooklyn Nets are a tale of two rosters heading into the NBA restart.
Before the pause due to the coronavirus pandemic, they were the No. 7 seed in the East at 30-34, with Kyrie Irving — who missed all the games after Feb. 1 with a shoulder injury — leading the team in scoring, with some hope that next season, they could make a splash with Kevin Durant returning from his devastating Achilles tear and Irving coming back healthy.
But as the NBA returned neared, we kept hearing name after name of players who would be out.
Durant said he wouldn’t return for the bubble. Irving was already out for the rest of the season. There’s center DeAndre Jordan, point guard Spencer Dinwiddie and forward Taurean Prince who are all bowing out, all of whom tested positive for COVID-19. Wilson Chandler said “the health and well-being of my family has to come first.”
That’s led to some free-agent signings and changes on the depth chart.
Justin Anderson replaced Chandler, Tyler Johnson took Dinwiddie’s place, there’s a report vet Michael Beasley’s on board, and three-time Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford, who did this the last time he played in the NBA (a reminder that he’s now 40!):
As of Thursday afternoon, the depth chart looks something like this:
PG: Chris Chiozza, Tyler Johnson
SG: Joe Harris, Garrett Temple, Jamal Crawford
SF: Caris LeVert, Timothe Luwau-Cabarrot, Michael Beasley
PF: Rodions Kurucs, Dzanan Musa, Justin Anderson
C: Jarrett Allen
Even though the expectations weren’t that high for the Nets heading into the restart, it’ll be interesting to see how the team performs with all these changes.
[jwplayer mjKEy43b-q2aasYxh]