Nets vs. Pacers Wednesday NBA injury report, spread, odds: Kyrie Irving set to make season debut; All-Star can only play road games

Oddsmakers at various sportsbook have kept the Brooklyn Nets atop the NBA championship board all season – currently +260 -- in part because they figured that Kyrie Irving would come back and play at some point, either by getting the COVID vaccine or the Nets caving. Of course, the Nets did cave and Irving will make his season debut Wednesday at a depleted Indiana Pacers team. The Nets opened as 8-point favorites at Caesars Sportsbook.

It felt like the Nets never had their Big 3 of Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden healthy all at once last season yet they still came within an eyelash of beating the Milwaukee Bucks to reach the Eastern Conference Finals. Irving's last game was Game 4 of those East semifinals vs. the Bucks in which he left with a sprained ankle and wasn't able to get back the rest of the series.

Durant and Harden have said they don't see the fact that Irving can only play on the road as a distraction as New York City COVID mandates won't allow him to play in Brooklyn home games or at the Knicks. Irving also wouldn't be able to play at Golden State or Toronto. This would be a most unusual situation in the playoffs if the COVID mandates are still in place.

Irving apparently will be the NBA's first major part-time player since then-Chicago Zephyrs rookie Terry Dischinger in 1962. The All-American out of Purdue and 1960 Olympian won NBA Rookie of the Year in the 1962-63 season despite spending time away from the team for academics. He played in 57 of Chicago's 80 games.

"During my rookie year I wanted to obtain my Chemical Engineering degree from Purdue, so Chicago let me attend school and play on weekends and holidays." Dischinger recalled.

Irving is arriving at a good time as Brooklyn has lost a season-high three games in a row, all at home. Durant is averaging 36.9 minutes and Harden 36.5 and Irving should help lower those numbers in road games. The team won't be quite 100 percent whole yet as guard Joe Harris will miss at least another 2-3 weeks due to left ankle surgery. LaMarcus Aldridge is questionable with a foot injury.

It's the second of a back-to-back for the disappointing Pacers, who lost 104-94 at the Knicks on Tuesday, their fifth straight defeat. They are without Malcolm Brogdon, Caris LeVert, Jeremy Lamb, Chris Duarte, Kelan Martin and others in the COVID protocols. Brogdon and Lamb actually cleared protocols Tuesday but aren't expected to play tonight for conditioning reasons.

The Nets have won five straight in the series. The lone meeting this season was Oct. 29 in Brooklyn, a 105-98 victory. Harden had 29 points, Durant 22 and 11 rebounds, and Aldridge 21 points. Torrey Craig led Indiana with 28 points off the bench. He hasn't come close to scoring that many points again this season and left Tuesday's loss injured. 

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