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The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals barely more than two months ago in the Orlando bubble, and the shortest offseason in league history ends already Tuesday night as the 2020-21 season tips off with two games: Golden State Warriors at Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Clippers at Los Angeles Lakers. Both will be shown on TNT.

There are sky-high expectations for the Nets with all-world player and future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant joining Kyrie Irving to form one of the best 1-2 punches in the NBA. However, Durant is coming off one of the most serious injuries an athlete can suffer, a torn Achilles’ tendon in Game 5 of 2019 NBA Finals against Toronto when Durant was a member of … the Warriors.

Brooklyn signed Durant to a huge free-agent deal ahead of last season even though it knew KD wouldn’t play at all in 2019-20. Irving, meanwhile, was limited to just 20 games last season due to his own injury problems. Tuesday will also be the NBA head coaching debut of one of the league’s best-ever point guards, two-time MVP Steve Nash.