Kyrie Irving was stoic and quiet during practice Tuesday, according to Nets coach Kenny Atkinson.

Just two days earlier, Irving and the rest of the basketball world were stunned by the sudden death of Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna. Irving, who considered Bryant to be a close friend and mentor, did not play in the Nets’ loss to the Knicks on Sunday after leaving Madison Square Garden upon hearing the news.

Irving, who was not available for comment, was back with the Nets for practice ahead of Wednesday’s game against the Pistons.

Atkinson wouldn’t commit, but said he expects Irving to play given how “engaged” he was in practice. However, Atkinson is well aware of how difficult this has been for Irving.

“I think [he is] tremendously affected,” Atkinson said. “I don’t want to speak for him, I think he was closer to Kobe than people realize. I’ll let him speak on that eventually. Very, very affected.

“[He] competed his tail off in practice and was really good. But you can see, he’s obviously still affected.”

It was a heavy day all around when news broke that Bryant and his daughter were aboard a helicopter that crashed in Calabasas, Calif., claiming seven other lives as well. Atkinson recalled how challenging it was to speak to the media, especially after being with Irving just moments before.

“When you see someone that you’re close to hurting like that, that’s very difficult,” Atkinson said. “I kind of felt like that, that was the real … but these guys are like my kids. It’s like, ‘Man, if they’re hurting, I’m hurting.’ And that’s what really kind of got me very emotional, that our guys are hurting in there.”

Atkinson said he had never seen a locker room as silent as the Nets’ was prior to tipoff against the Knicks. It wasn’t just for 20 minutes or so, he recalled, but for the entire duration of their pregame routine.

Reiterating his displeasure with the league’s decision to keep Sunday’s games scheduled as planned, Atkinson noted that neither he nor any of the Nets have watched a second of film from the 110-97 loss. He wasn’t about to judge his players on their performance after absorbing that kind of news.

Before the Nets began practice Tuesday, Atkinson’s message to his players was how getting back into their routine was the best kind of therapy. However, it was impossible to keep the despair out of the gym, as Atkinson noted that some players continued to talk about what happened to Bryant on the sidelines during practice.

“[Taking] care of [the team] is first,” Atkinson said. “And then we’ll deal with — life is first. And then we’ll deal with the wins and losses as they come. I do think it’s kind of been just a lot of things, starting with China, there’s just been a lot of up and down. I feel like we haven’t gotten real consistent traction on who this team is and who they can be.

“I just keep telling them I trust them, I know they’re really good. But I know as we get healthier, we’ll be better. I know if we can get a good runway here of being together and everybody being healthy, the distractions kind of go away, we’ll be a good team. We’ll continue to improve but I do think we’ve been kind of up and down because of a lot of different circumstances.”