“Kyrie Irving is the 7th All-Star to miss a Playoff game this season”: Nets star joins the likes of Joel Embiid and James Harden on a ‘not-so-historic’ list

Kyrie Irving will become the 7th All-Star to miss a Playoff game this season, the most to have missed one in NBA Playoff history. 

Injuries have ravaged teams like the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers throughout these Playoffs. The former has seen merely 43 seconds of James Harden in their series against the Bucks and were hit with more tumultuous news as Kyrie Irving will sit out Game 5 due to an ankle sprain.  

The latter is not even in the postseason any longer as Anthony Davis could not step onto the court due to a strained groin. Though LeBron James did not miss any of the 6 games the Lakers had against the Suns, he was clearly hobbled and not himself due to his right ankle sprain from the regular season.

In an unfortunate stat shared by Kirk Goldsberry, Kyrie Irving became the 7th player in these Playoffs to have missed at least one game in the postseason, joining the likes of Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid, Donovan Mitchell, and Mike Conley.

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What could be the reason that Kyrie Irving and so many other players have been on the injury list this postseason? 

The obvious answer would be that the offseason going into this 2020-21 NBA season was the shortest of any offseason in NBA history. However, this reason makes sense for teams such as the Lakers and the Nuggets, as they were in the ‘Bubble’ for the longest time. 

Kyrie Irving on the other hand, did not even join the Brooklyn Nets in the Orlando Bubble due to personal reasons revolving around the racial injustice being dealt to black people across the US. Irving had an incredibly long offseason and yet, still succumbed to injuries.

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This goes to show that fans and media alike who love to blame the Bubble for the rampant injuries taking place in this 2020-21 NBA season use this excuse as it is the easiest one to blurt out. In reality, injuries happen out of the blue, all of the time.  

Kyrie Irving had all the rest in the world going into this season, including his frequent days off which warranted a horrendous take from Stephen A. Smith where he said Irving should retire, and still landed awkwardly on Giannis’s foot when coming down from a lay-up. Though it is said to see so many great players go down due to injury, everything cannot be blamed on the Bubble.