You mentioned it earlier.

Kyrie Irving returned to the Nets today.

Here's a look at him at practice.

He could play tomorrow in Cleveland.

Has missed the last seven games almost 1/10 of the season, and lost nearly $900,000 in salary for games missed during the quarantine period.

He spoke to the media today about his absence and also the addition of James Harden.

Very excited.

You know, just I have dreams here.

Obviously, let him go Some of the pieces that have been here in the Nets organization for a while, even before I got here.

You know, it's gonna be hard regardless, Um, it's just the nature of the business.

We're all brothers, still, you know.

So we're just moving on into the next phase of just developing as a team and just building some karate or camaraderie and having fun.

Can you shed some light on what the last couple of weeks have been like for you and the time you need it all?

Um, there's a lot of family and personal stuff going on, so just wanna leave it at that for the Net fan out there who, you know, was living and dying with you guys and wasn't sure why you were not playing and was frustrated by that, you know?

Would you have any explanation to that?

Those fans, that fan.

Well, the beautiful thing about that is that I started off as a fanatic and I started off as a fan.

I been invested in this organization since I was a kid, you know?

And also now that I'm in this role as a player, there is quite a difference on, you know, The fans out there won't apologize them as well.

You know, my commitment has always been to bring something special to Brooklyn.

You know, it was just a championship.

It was unity.

Is equality just bigger things than just a game itself.

You know, I'm back.

I'm happy to be back.

And we got some great pieces and we just move on and I let my actions in my game speak for yourself.

Like I planned on doing, you know, just needed a pause.

Just stated a pause.

Malika Andrews, one of the reporters who was on that zoom call today, joins us now.

So Mallika and he referred to it there.

The nets, their fans.

Everybody was counting on a healthy Kyrie.

Kyrie, you know, a native son of New York toe contribute to this season.

Take the team to the next level, and he has missed almost 1/10 off a season and done so with a new coaching staff.

What was the team's reaction to his comments today?

Well, Hannah Steve Nash said that he was excited to have Kyrie Irving back in the building.

Remember, after two weeks of him being away from the team and so many pieces moving, this is a little bit of a sigh of relief to be able to finally see the entire product in one building all players in one building together so that they can kind of take a look at what they're going to be as a team as a group.

And Kevin Durant and James Harden have never wavered in the time that James has been with the team and Kevin the entire time.

In wanting Kyrie Irving to be back and looking forward to his return, Kyrie Irving said that he addressed with his teammates.

He spoke to each one of them individually and addressed the group about his absence and Steve Nash.

I asked him if he could elaborate that on that a little bit if he felt satisfied with with that explanation, and Steve Nash again said, You know what?

We're going to leave this in house.

So it seems as though this team is ready to move on to put Kyrie Irving back out on the court.

And Kyrie Irving said, I am committed to playing.

That was never a question.

Like he said, I just needed some time.

It's really clear if we take this on the court now that James Harden belongs a point guard.

Hey has his ally.

We saw pictures of him there in the background.

Mike D'Antoni is right there on the bench and in his corner.

But Kyrie also needs the ball in his hands.

That's the kind of player that he has become.

So how will he be integrated into this lineup?

Well, Hannah Kevin Durant said that it was a good thing for a couple of games that James Harden was the guy who had the ball in his hands.

That helped him to get a little bit of a feel for things.

But remember, this was not just Kyrie Irving's first practice.

This was James Harden's first practice today, even though he had already played in two games with teams.

So Steve Nash said that he's confident that this will come with time.

We expect to see Kyrie, Irving, James Harden and Kevin Durant all out there in the starting lineup.

They're committed to making this work.

They're committed to finding those touches to having multiple people bring the ball up the court.

But really, the person that this is going to lie with is Kevin Durant.

Steve Nash said that he is the most versatile player of the three, and so they're going to be looking at him to be the one to mold this team, to be able to be adaptable so that the other two can continue to figure out their roles.

But all three have said, You know what?

We're all Hooper's.

We're going to figure this out because in our soul, that's who we are.

We're basketball players and we can do this.

We have enough talent.

Hannah.

Well, maybe the problem isn't offensively, but defensively, they do have some issues.

Just two steals yesterday and DeAndre Jordan had to play almost 40 minutes.

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