NBA
These Stats Prove Just How Much Of An Impact That Kevin Durant Makes For Brooklyn’s Success
Zach Wolpin is an NBA and NFL expert who's been betting on the league for over three years now. Wolpin has been a fan of the NBA and has been watching for a decade and a half. He covers the latest news and stories surrounding the league daily. His passion in life is watching sports and being able to share that through his sports writing. He has written about the NBA and other sports leagues through various media outlets over the years like Sir Charles In Charge, G-Men HQ, and TAP into South Plainfield. Before he became an NBA News Writer, Wolpin attended Montclair State University where he graduated in 2021. He studied Sports Media and Writing while in school.
All posts by Zach WolpinUpdated20 Jan 2023
Just last week Kyrie Irving said to the media that the Nets were not going to struggle like they did last season without Kevin Durant. It hasn’t played out as he said it would so far and Brooklyn have lost four straight since Durant went down with an MCL injury vs Miami on 1/8. Durant is one of, if not the best pure scorers in the league right now and it’s not shocking why the Nets are struggling. We’ve got stats to prove just how much of an impact KD means to Brooklyn’s success.
The Nets are simply trying to do whatever they can to weather the storm while Durant is out and four straight losses are not what they intended. Multiple players on the Nets need to make an impact each night to replace the 30 points per game that Durant was proving to the team each night.
If all goes well, a return sometime before the all-star break would seem to fit the timeline for Durant’s injury. New York Sports Betting sites have the Nets at (+800) to win the Finals this season.
“The Nets are gonna be hopeful that he’s gonna be able to make it back sooner rather than later…”@ShamsCharania on Kevin Durant’s knee injury#RunItBack | https://t.co/Q9hUtUoPZJ pic.twitter.com/drUFCq8v53
— FanDuel TV (@FanDuelTV) January 9, 2023
Brooklyn are fearful of going through a rough patch like last season without Durant
It’s a daunting task each game for the Nets to try and replace the 30/7/5 that Durant brings to the Nets each game. Durant being on the floor does the little things that can help a team win like how he spaces the floor. No team wants to let KD take easy shot so a lot of the time he’ll have two defenders near him. That leaves his teammates open for quality shots and the Nets had some real success before he went down.
Brooklyn went on a 18-2 stretch and were playing some exciting and efficient basketball. The Nets also enjoyed a season-high 12-game win streak and set a franchise record for their winningest-month this past December going 11-1. However, the stats the past few seasons when Durant plays are not great at all.
In the 2020-21 season, the Nets went 25-12 in the games he did not play. A solid 13 games over .500 is pretty remarkable. Last season is where it took a turn for the worse. Brooklyn went 8-19 without Durant in 2021-22 and suffered a 5-16 stretch where they also lost 11 straight games. This season, the Nets are 1-4 without Durant and have lost four straight since his MCL injury.
Battled to the buzzer. pic.twitter.com/DaEIAFq6WM
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) January 20, 2023
The Nets had their best game yet without Durant last night when they played the Phoenix Suns, but were not able t pull out a win in the fourth. As a team, the Nets are averaging 113.5 points per game this season and only 104.0 in their last three games. Durant could certainly bring those numbers up for sure. Brooklyn are currently on a five-game road trip and their next game is tomorrow at 9:00pm vs Utah Jazz.
