What’s Kyrie Irving hinting at? Return to play? A new line of sneakers?

Early Tuesday afternoon, Kyrie Irving posted a picture on Instagram...

No caption, no nothing, just a couple of pair or sneakers and a backpack. But it was the placement that matter. They were sitting on a basketball court whose only identifying mark was a blue stripe.

So let the speculation begin...

—Is Kyrie hinting he’s back on the court, getting ready for a renewed season? It’s been 11 weeks (to the day) since his March 3 surgery to correct shoulder impingement, the injury that limited him to 20 out of 64 games.

—Or was he just promoting some new footwear? Five days ago, he introduced a line of women’s sneakers named for his sister Asia, the Nike Kyrie 6 “Asia”.

And where was that court. Our best guess? Roosevelt Middle School in West Orange, NJ where he signed his Nets contract on a table set up in the middle of the school’s court...

A father of youth player who uses the court thought so too...

The shades of blue seem to match. Just Sayin’.

As many a pundit has noted, there’s been little to nothing heard from Irving since his surgery. We last saw him a month ago when RocNation Sports tweeted out a Tik Tok video of him and his sisters...

Kevin Durant’s status on the other hand has been a topic of almost daily debate. Last comment we heard from KD was “I’ll be back when it’s time.”

Meanwhile, Tillman Fertitta, the Rockets owner, appeared on CNBC and spoke about the prospects for a return.

“We’re very comfortable as long as the experts continue to say things are getting better in America, the players want to play. As long as this doesn’t continue to grow and continues to go the other way ... I see the NBA playing. Everybody wants to play.

“America wants to see the NBA play and I look forward to us playing games later this summer, playing some regular-season games and of course having an NBA champion like the Houston Rockets.”

It’s the first time we’ve heard about a return to regular season games. Teams have played between 63 and 66 games. The Nets have played 64.

Joe Tsai, while not discussing the specifics of a return to play, tweeted out an optimistic message from Dr. David Ho, the Columbia University virologist who was critical in developing treatments for HIV/AIDS and is the NBA’s consultant on the pandemic...

The Nets have yet to open their training center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, for player workouts. At least 17 teams have opened up their facilities, but the Nets and Knicks are not among them.