The Nets might have to find a balance between point guards Spencer Dinwiddie and Kyrie Irving sooner rather than later.

When Irving went down with a shoulder impingement and shooting guard Caris LeVert had thumb surgery in November, it was up to Dinwiddie to make up for the loss of offensive production. Dinwiddie rose to the occasion, leading the Nets to wins in nine of the first 12 games without Irving or LeVert.

Now, coach Kenny Atkinson is beginning to work LeVert back into the rotation while Irving just participated in his first full practice with the team in nearly two months. LeVert’s playing time doesn’t affect Dinwiddie that much, but Irving’s return will pose a dilemma.

“My job at the end of the day is to do the best for the team,” Atkinson said. “What’s going to fit best for the team concept. And I have some ideas up here [points to head]. We’ve talked about it as a staff, but no decision has been made. There are still a lot of variables involved. Caris is still working his minutes to full-time, so just a lot of moving parts to it.

“I think it almost has to be one of those thing where, when the situation is presented to us, we have to make the decision what it is. But we are preparing for that. It’s just a ton of variables.”

Atkinson thinks the tandem of Dinwiddie and Irving would be tough to match up with, noting Dinwiddie is a two-way player who can guard off the ball. The thought of being able to deploy LeVert, Irving and Dinwiddie at the same time excites Atkinson, considering that strategy was part of the team’s original plan before it was derailed by injuries.

“I wouldn’t hesitate to do that at all,” he said.

When the time does come to make a decision, Atkinson said he plans to sit down with Irving and Dinwiddie to pick their brains about the situation.

Atkinson said he plans to continue managing LeVert’s playing time.

After undergoing thumb surgery in November, LeVert missed eight weeks before returning to the lineup against the Raptors on Jan. 4. He was then kept out of the Nets’ 101-89 loss at Orlando before getting some time against the Thunder on Tuesday. But LeVert was kept out of the entire overtime as the Nets lost their seventh straight at home.

“We’ll keep the build-up,” Atkinson said. “You’ll see the minutes incrementally increase. I don’t think I’m going to call it a limitation. I’m going to call it, we’re building those minutes.”

Atkinson said he hasn’t made a concrete decision regarding LeVert’s playing time for Friday’s game against the Heat.

“Physically when you’ve been out that long, and listen, we try and create game situations as much as possible here, there’s a limitation to that and so when you go from practice situation to the buildup we do and all of the sudden to game reps, it’s a shock to the body,” Atkinson said. “It really is. We studied this. The intensity. You can’t create the intensity in practice. You just can’t.

“So, now understanding it’s that shock to the body it’s a recovery from that and what that looks like. Eight weeks off and all of the sudden you’re playing 32 minutes a game every game back-to-back, we just want to be more cautious in that.”