Kyrie Irving officially ruled out for season opener vs. Bucks

Brooklyn Nets PG Kyrie Irving was officially ruled out for Tuesday night’s season opener vs. the Milwaukee Bucks. He remains away from the team due to personal reasons and isn’t expected to play until he can participate in team activities fully. Irving isn’t vaccinated and can’t practice or play in home games due to New York City’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate. Irving also isn’t eligible to play in away games in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Fantasy basketball impact

While Irving is away from the team right now, the Nets will lean on James Harden as the team’s primary ball-handler. He may serve more as a distributor than a scorer early on in the season or until Irving decides to come back (or doesn’t). Kevin Durant will be the primary scorer on the wing. Irving’s absence also means more shots for Joe Harris, who will begin the season at SG.

The names to monitor off the bench include Patty Mills and Jevon Carter. Mills expects to be the 6th Man of sorts for the Nets and could get some run in crunch time at PG with Harden playing off the ball. Carter brings some defensive intensity to the table and can eat up minutes with the second unit to give Harden and Mills some rest. Both are worth monitoring in deeper fantasy basketball formats and could make for useful value options in DFS Showdown contests on DraftKings.