Kevin Durant says Brooklyn Nets' season was derailed by his knee injury in mid-January

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Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant said he believes his team's season got derailed when he injured the knee in January.

I feel like our season was derailed by my injury. There wasn't a lot of continuity with me and Kyrie out of the lineup. I like what we got when we are all on the floor.

During a Jan. 15 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, he injured his left knee and had to miss over a year. During his absence, the Nets went on an 11-game losing streak and were 5-17, despite being 27-15 at the time.

The Nets traded James Harden and Paul Millsap to the 76ers for Ben Simmons and two future first-round picks. After getting Irving back full time on March 27 after New York Mayor Eric Adams pulled back the city's vaccine requirement for professional athletes and performers, the Nets have struggled to find a rhythm.

Nets coach Steve Nash is still optimistic that the group can play its best basketball in the near future.

Nash said that they would give it a shot if they did it or not. We fight every day to get a little bit better.

This is not going to be productive if we think this is too much or the world is against us. All of us are enjoying the challenge.

After starting his second NBA season 3-29 with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant isn't concerned about which team or teams the Nets might face in next week. The Nets need to win two of their remaining four games to make the playoffs, as they sit in 10th place in the Eastern Conference.

When asked if he has looked at the table, he said, "Who cares?" I do not care who we play. We are in the play-in, but I don't care. If you tip the ball up, you can see what happens. All you can do is control that. It is too much to think about trying to dodge a team and just play the game. We will see what happens.

No matter what happens this season, Irving does not deserve any more blame than he already has, according to the records of Durant. If Irving had been a full-time player from the start of the season, the Nets would have a vastly different record. After a break in December, the Nets reversed course and wanted Irving as a full-time player. Irving made his debut in a win over the Pacers.

The reason why we are so confident is that we have been in many different scenarios on different teams, said Irving after Saturday's loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

The way that we respond in situations like this is we just go home and get ready for the next game, but the mental focus is on a different level and in order for us to be a great team everybody has to have that same mental focus.

After Monday's practice, Durant echoed a similar sentiment.

You can talk about expectations, but they don't matter if we play a good team or not. The care that you have for the game is what makes a champion. A lot of champion that never won a ring approach their work the same way.

I felt our team needed to approach this season the same way, but with some things out of their control. You can still have the championship mentality every day as an individual.