After months of public debate, internal machinations and leaguewide speculation, Kyrie Irving finally made his inaugural appearance of the season Wednesday night in the Brooklyn Nets' 129-121 win at the Indiana Pacers. Unvaccinated against COVID-19, in a league being ravaged by a new wave of infections, he got clearance from his team to suit up -- and the early returns were promising for Brooklyn. In the words of Nets coach Steve Nash, "He looks like himself."
With Irving's addition to Brooklyn's active roster, a presumptive preseason favorite now has its star cluster intact, a rarity for a Nets squad whose tantalizing potential has yet to be realized, much less healthy, over the past year.
"I've had a lot of debuts, but nothing comes close to this one," Irving said.
Irving's night began with a layer of rust. Working off a pick-and-roll set called from the sideline on the game's first possession -- "a welcome back gift," according to Nash -- Irving fired a midrange jumper that grazed the front rim. For his second field goal attempt, Irving unleashed a nasty crossover to find a large swath of space, only to have his shot swatted away by Pacers center Myles Turner.
With his pops, Drederick Irving, sitting directly behind the basket, Irving ultimately scored his first bucket of the season in the opening minute of the second quarter on an assertive right-handed drive from the left corner before elevating for a midrange jumper just beneath the foul line. His first true vintage Irving sequence came just before the nine-minute mark of the second quarter when he darted coast-to-coast with a series of slick maneuvers punctuated by a crafty leaner at the basket in traffic. He then hit a buzzer-beater to end the third quarter to slice the Pacers' lead to seven points.
In the fourth quarter and with a small lineup featuring Kevin Durant at center, Irving was a catalyst in the Nets' flurry, both in the half court with his shot creation and in transition with a clean pull-up jumper and a hanging layup at the rim. He scored 10 points in the final frame. Overall, he finished the night with 22 points on 9-for-17 shooting from the field, along with four assists, three steals and a block. He was plus-16 in 32 minutes.
"It felt amazing," Irving said. "I don't want to take this for granted. Long time coming. It's been months."
Irving is one of the NBA's most charismatic and enigmatic characters. His sly handle has inspired a generation of young ballers. His public statements have commanded both praise and ridicule, depending on one's political and cultural orientation. He did not endear himself to teammates and the organization in Boston, yet he won an NBA title with the Cleveland Cavaliers, hitting one of the most memorable shots in league history. That distinction, along with his stage presence, has earned him an allowance for his eccentricities, as is often the case for elite NBA champions.
His return marks a new chapter for the Nets this season. For a team that features three of the most recognizable players in the sport -- and almost certainly future Hall of Famers -- the Nets are an unknown quantity. In the 50 weeks since James Harden played his first game with Brooklyn, Durant, Harden and Irving have logged only 202 minutes together as a three-man unit in 14 games prior to Irving's return Wednesday night. The Nets were 11-3 in those contests (including the postseason), and the trio posted an astounding offensive rating of 128.2 points per 100 possessions and a less astounding defensive rating of 115.0 for an impressive net rating of 13.2. On Wednesday, Brooklyn's Big Three recorded a plus-16 in 17 minutes (a gaudy net rating of plus-45.7, according to ESPN's Stats & Information data).
Without Irving this season, the Nets situated themselves near the top of the Eastern Conference, but they've appeared decidedly mortal. Over the past week, they fell to the Philadelphia 76ers, lost to the starless LA Clippers and were pummeled by the upstart Memphis Grizzlies -- all on their home court.
When the Nets announced during the preseason that the unvaccinated Irving would neither practice nor play in games, they were roundly praised for the conviction of their decision. While the Nets said they appreciated Irving's right to conscientiously object to getting the vaccine, they preserved their right to proceed without him in a league that's not conducive to part-time work.
In an effort at Wednesday morning's shootaround to explain why the organization had reversed course, Nash said the decimation of the team's roster at the hands of the omicron variant pushed the Nets to turn to their inactive, max-contract All-Star rather than another in a procession of 10-day stopgap mercenaries.
"We were going around signing a bunch of 10-days [contracts] when we have a guy who can play for us, so what's the difference between a 10-day and a guy -- those are part-time players too," Nash said.
Whether this act of triage is a reaction to the raging virus or the Nets' underwhelming play of late, Irving is their chosen antidote. In desperate times, necessity is the mother of ascension.
As the Nets staged their fourth-quarter comeback in Indianapolis, a masked Irving jumped off the bench with a series of shoulder presses to celebrate Nic Claxton's rugged offensive rebound, putback -- and-1. As Durant strolled over to the sideline, Irving momentarily pulled down his mask to flash a broad smile. The Nets were a full squad for the first time, basking in their immense talent.