Kyrie Irving, playing with face fracture, leaves Nets-Lakers early

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Thursday, October 10, 2019

Kyrie Irving's preseason debut was cut short, as the Brooklyn Nets guard played just one minute against the Los Angeles Lakersin Shanghai on Thursday after aggravating the facial fracture he suffered in an offseason pickup game before training camp.



Irving was wearing a mask for the game and was guarding the Lakers' Rajon Rondo along the sideline. Rondo appeared to inadvertently hit Irving in the face with his arm while shielding the ball.



Irving immediately took off his mask, winced and signaled to the bench that he was coming off the floor. He has been ruled out for the rest of the game.



The Nets lost their other starting guard just seconds later. Caris LeVert left with 10:32 remaining in the first quarter after being poked in the eye and didn't return.



The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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