Dallas Basketball

Kyrie Irving Believes Injury Robbed 2021 Nets of Title: ‘No F***ing Doubt About It’

The 2020-23 Brooklyn Nets led by Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving will forever wonder 'what if' as they failed to win an NBA championship, especially in 2021.

Michael Mulford

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To win a championship in the NBA, or any sport, many things come into play to help you become the last team standing. One of those things is health. Availability is the best ability and a lot of the time, and it's the teams who sustain the least amount of noteworthy injuries that make deep playoff runs.

On Tuesday afternoon, Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving responded to a tweet showcasing a screenshot of the ankle sprain he suffered in Game 4 of the second round of the 2021 playoffs against the Milwaukee Bucks. The injury forced Irving out of the remainder of the series as the Brooklyn Nets lost a heartbreaking thriller in Game 7 for the right to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

In the reply, Irving voiced how the injury was the 'most disappointing and painful' of his career and that if healthy, his Nets' team would have won the series and ultimately hoisted the Larry O'Brien trophy that year, which was ultimately won by the Bucks.

"One of the most disappointing and painful moments of career. If I don’t get hurt that series, every single one of us on that Brooklyn team/bandwagon would be Champions. No f***ing doubt about it."

Now, would Irving, Kevin Durant, and the Nets have beaten the Bucks with a healthy Irving? It's likely. And with how Brooklyn was playing, they would have surely advanced past the young and inexperienced Atlanta Hawks to meet the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals.

Playing the 'what if' game is always dangerous, as there's a number of variables that come into play, but Irving has a valid argument that if he were to not suffer the ankle sprain while the Nets were up 2-1 in that series, we could be having a completely different conversation about that Brooklyn team. And if they were to win a championship, Irving might not be a Dallas Maverick.

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Michael Mulford
MICHAEL MULFORD

Michael Mulford is a writer/editor for Dallas Basketball, where he extensively covers the Dallas Mavericks. He also covers the Chicago Bulls as the Managing Editor for Bulls Wire of USA Today Sports Media Group. Mulford grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and graduated from the University of North Texas in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in Recreation, Event, and Sports Management. He began his pursuit of sports writing in 2017 with Dallas Sports Fanatic, where he covered the Mavericks’ G League affiliate, Texas Legends. He then became the Managing Editor of Dallas Sports Fanatic just one year later and has covered the Mavericks as a credentialed media member since 2018, including covering numerous playoff games between 2021-22 and covering the team at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas in 2019. In his time covering the Mavericks, Mulford has conducted numerous interviews for exclusive stories including with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki, former Maverick and current VP of Basketball Ops Michael Finley, former Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson, and more. You can follow and interact with Mulford on Twitter at @TheMulf.

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