How will the Brooklyn Nets look without Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving?

Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving both announced they don’t plan to return for the rest of the 2019-20 season. How will the Brooklyn Nets look without them?

There has been plenty of speculation that Brooklyn Nets stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving may both return to game action when the season resumes on July 31st at Walt Disney World. However, both players announced that they will not play when games start up again.

Durant is recovering from a ruptured right Achilles suffered during the 2019 NBA Finals. Irving is recovering from surgery on his right shoulder to correct an impingement.

It’s understandable that both Durant and Irving would want to sit the rest of the season out, as both rehab processes may have been disrupted due to training facilities not being open for a good portion of the pandemic. It also makes sense that they’d want to put all their energy into the 2020-21 season when the Nets can really make a championship push.

Now that both players are announced out, who will step up on offense?

The Nets still have plenty of depth to help them at least make some noise in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Ever since the start of February, Caris LeVert really took his game to the next level and started to show his potential as the Nets’ third star, as he averaged 23.0 points, 5.1 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game in 17 games before the league shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. LeVert’s three-point shooting also improved dramatically, as he was shooting the three at a 41.5 percent clip.

With both stars out, this will give the Michigan product plenty of opportunities to showcase his ability to be the third star the Nets need on both sides of the ball.

The Nets also have a point guard by the name of Spencer Dinwiddie, who time and time again has proven to be more than capable of stepping up when his team needs him most.

Dinwiddie’s length and size allow him to drive for nice looks at the rim and also attract multiple defenders to pass it off to someone behind the three-point line or inside the paint for great scoring opportunities. Dinwiddie is also capable of scoring in isolation, as he generates 0.95 points per possession while getting 3.2 possessions in isolation on average.

Expect both Dinwiddie and LeVert to get plenty of looks on offense and ultimately try to prove why having both of them on the team is much more important than using them as trade bait for Bradley Beal.

The Nets also have two very capable rim protectors in DeAndre Jordan and Jarrett Allen to help them prevent opposing teams from getting easy looks at the rim, as the Nets allow 58.7 percent of the shots they defend within six feet of the rim; good for fifth-best in the league.

All things considered, the Nets have a solid team put together without Durant and Irving, but if they are to be taken seriously as a true championship contender, then they’ll absolutely need that tandem to be part of the mix.