Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant took a moment on Sunday to address the issue of his teammate, Kyrie Irving, continuing to miss games.
Over the past week, Irving has missed three consecutive outings for personal reasons.
“I won’t speak on Kyrie,” Durant said in a Zoom call with the media.
“I’ll let him do that for himself. I’m sure you guys will see him soon whenever he comes back. We support him 100 percent and pray for the best.”
“We support him 100%”
Kevin Durant says the players have Kyrie Irving’s back pic.twitter.com/Mu2U7kLHha
— SNY (@SNYtv) January 11, 2021
Irving sat out of Brooklyn’s games on Thursday, Friday and Sunday for what the Nets have described as “personal leave.”
“Ky’s still on personal leave and all the communication with Ky, between the organization, I’m going to keep private and I’m sure you’ll hear from him at some point,” Nets head coach Steve Nash told USA Today this past weekend.
Last week, multiple reports emerged indicating that Irving’s prolonged absence is the byproduct of his anger at what happened at the U.S. Capitol. At the time, his decision to sit out was described as him taking some mental health wellness time.
LeBron decided to hook Ohio State up before the National Title Game. https://t.co/7Ulw7NeOJz
— Game 7 (@game7__) January 10, 2021
“One source close to Irving’s camp told The Association that Irving did not play because he is protesting against the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, and the lack of repercussions for the police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor,” Nets insider Anthony Puccio reported.
As of Monday morning, it us unclear when the Nets expect to have Irving back.
So far this year Irving has averaged 27.1 points and 6.1 assists per game. Brooklyn is currently 5-6 on the season, good for 10th place in the Eastern Conference.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
