Are Brooklyn Nets finished as playoffs approach?

Kevin Durant’s verbiage was telling as he spoke on Brooklyn’s season Monday afternoon.

After losing consecutive heartbreakers, including a 122-115 contest to Atlanta Saturday, Durant spoke in the past tense to reflect on the disappointing Nets campaign.

"To be honest, I feel like our season was derailed by my injury," Durant said. "I’m not looking at it like we’re just not a good basketball team. It’s like there wasn’t a lot of continuity with me and Kyrie [Irving] out of the lineup, that’s just what it is."

But while the Nets are locked into the play-in tournament, some might think they still possess both the talent and opportunity to make a playoff run. 

Nick Wright isn’t buying it, however, stating on Tuesday's "First Things First" that the Nets’ season is finished.

"Marriages and basketball seasons — never good when you start talking about them in the past tense," Wright said. "'Our season was derailed.' KD is right. The Nets' season is over."

So, is there any hope for Brooklyn in the playoffs? Is Durant’s injury really to blame in a year rife with controversy and calamity at the Barclays Center?

Even with Irving sidelined after refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, Durant and James Harden helped Brooklyn live up to their super-team reputation with a 23-9 start.

Brooklyn stood at 27-15 and in second place in the Eastern Conference before KD suffered his aforementioned MCL injury. During Durant’s 90-day absence, a discontented Harden was traded to the Sixers, and the Nets slumped to a 6-17 record without their three best players, leaving them clinging to the playoff fringes.

But Irving’s full-time return and the stability Durant hoped to provide haven’t helped the Nets shake off mediocrity. Brooklyn stands at just 2-4 over its last six games, with losses to playoff rivals Charlotte and Atlanta.

"He [Durant] knows it," Wright said about the Nets’ waning prospects. "He knows it because he’s on the court when Trae Young gets the ball, does a full-on shimmy, and no one [on the Nets] runs out to him."

Co-host Chris Broussard gleaned a much more positive outlook from KD’s comments, however, highlighting his stated enthusiasm and competitive drive.

"In that quote he [Durant] said, ‘I like what we have when we’re all on the court together,’" Broussard said. "Come playoff time they’ll all be on the court together. You mean to tell me he doesn’t think the Nets have a shot?"

Broussard added that the Nets will be dangerous, as KD will approach the postseason will full vigor and confidence.

Where Broussard disagrees with Durant, however, is in assigning blame for Brooklyn’s disappointing regular-season campaign. Kyrie’s decision not to get vaccinated, which saw the seven-time All-Star miss 53 games this season, capsized the Nets’ season in the eyes of Broussard.

"Kevin Durant was protecting his friend Kyrie Irving," Broussard said. "Because we all know what derailed the Nets' season was Kyrie not getting vaccinated. James Harden is still there and even when Durant went down the Nets would have been able to maintain their first or second seed."

Brooklyn's lackluster season led Wright to restate his skepticism of the super-team concept that inspired the Nets' construction, adding that achieving NBA success requires an elite star and a cohort of effective role players. 

"I don't know that building super-teams was ever the exact way to win," Wright said on his podcast "What's What? with Nick Wright." "The way to win in the NBA has been consistent for 40 years, you must have an apex top-5 player at a minimum and then fill in the surrounding holes."

The Nets have shown some promising signs of late, besting the top-seeded Heat and losing to the Bucks on a pair of last-second free throws. They'll need to stay sharp as they are slated to play a top-2 seed if they survive the play-in round.