Kyrie Irving available to play, Kevin Durant out vs. Sixers [UPDATE]

UPDATE: April 14, 1:07 p.m. — The Nets do not have Irving listed on the injury report and he will be available to play Wednesday vs. the Philadelphia 76ers. Kevin Durant, Aldridge and now Blake Griffin will all take the night off to rest, essentially. LMA was out Tuesday due to an illness, however. Chris Chiozza was also ruled out due to a fractured hand suffered the other day vs. the T-Wolves.

This is a pretty big game for the standings with the Nets and Sixers tied at 37-17 at the top of the East. Irving ($9,800) will be a popular play on DraftKings back in the lineup. Joe Harris ($5,600) is also a strong mid-range option given the Nets should ride the two shooters if the game is close. Jeff Green ($4,600) and DeAndre Jordan ($4,000) should make up the bulk of the front court minutes with LMA and Griffin sidelined.

UPDATE: April 13 — The Nets and Timberwolves will play Tuesday afternoon and nothing has changed from the injury report from Sunday. The Nets will be without Irving (personal) and Aldridge (illness), as well as Harden (hamstring).

Brooklyn Nets PG Kyrie Irving and PF/C LaMarcus Aldridge have both been ruled out for Monday’s game vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves. Irving will not play due to personal reasons and LMA is dealing with an illness. The Nets also ruled out G James Harden, who has been sidelined due to a hamstring injury. Brooklyn is coming off a tough loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night. Irving was ejected from that game in the third quarter after being accessed a second technical foul.

The Nets are only stating that Irving is sitting due to personal reasons. We don’t yet know the specifics. The illness for Aldridge is not Covid-19 related, which is a good sign. It doesn’t appear he will miss extended time due to quarantine or health and safety protocols. Harden is expected to be re-evaluated on Friday later in the week. After that, we’ll see if there’s a chance he could get back into the lineup.

Brooklyn just got superstar Kevin Durant back in the lineup after he missed nearly two months due to a hamstring injury. KD was reinserted into the starting lineup on Saturday and his minutes were increased a bit. Durant scored 22 points with 7 rebounds and 5 assists with 8 turnovers in 24 minutes. Durant now has 14 turnovers in the past two games since returning, which isn’t a great sign. With Irving and Aldridge out, Durant will need to carry more offensive load in limited time.

With Irving sidelined, we should see the Nets rotate Landry Shamet and Bruce Brown at guard along with Joe Harris. Chris Chiozza could also see some run off the bench. Nicolas Claxton and Blake Griffin will make up the front court minutes that would go to Aldridge. It’s a strong matchup against a poor Minnesota defense, so there should be plenty of strong value plays on Monday’s slate from the Nets.