Nets: Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving better not screw this roster up

The returns of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving better not screw the Nets roster up.

With seemingly the entire basketball world watching, the Brooklyn Nets delivered yet another sensational performance in the NBA bubble.

On Thursday night, interim head coach Jacque Vaughn’s depleted squad — who had absolutely nothing to play for having already clinched the No. 7 seed in the East — gave the playoff-hopeful Portland Trail Blazers all they could handle.

Though the defense of both teams left a lot to be desired, the offensive showing more than made up for it. When the dust settled, it was the Blazers who came out on top in a 134-133 game of the year candidate.

Taking the loss will obviously sting, but Brooklyn’s final contest before the playoffs further proved that the team has a promising young core in place that will hopefully make a seamless transition once Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving return next season.

In fact, the amazing numbers Caris LeVert, Joe Harris and Jarrett Allen posted in the bubble will have fans on their knees begging that the impending return of the two superstars doesn’t discombobulate the Nets’ undeniable chemistry.

Everybody’s thinking it, right? There’s just no way that a player like LeVert, who finished with 37 points and 9 assists on 16-of-29 shooting on Thursday night, will have the ball in is hands enough next season to post a stat line as delicious as that.

We all know that Durant and Irving are both ball-dominant players who thrive in isolation and in the half court. You have to assume that both of them will be motivated to put the NBA on notice after what can only be considered a lost season marred by injuries. That projects to derail the beautiful ball movement Brooklyn has boasted since play resumed.

Nobody’s saying that the Nets roster is perfect. In fact, most fans would admit that it’s a KD or Kyrie away from becoming a championship contender. However, we can’t just dismiss the basketball we’ve been watching for the last month.

Before the restart, everybody was extremely down on the Nets given their depleted roster and many were expecting an exodus of some sorts this offseason when the input of KD and Kyrie help influence the front office. But that’s no longer the case. The Nets need to have all of these moving parts work.

If they don’t, their championship odds will suffer the consequences. There’s simply too much talent to disband this group.