Due to the NBA’s previous move to suspend play in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league’s calendar for the 2019-20 season has been extended by several months. As a result, fan speculation about Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant potentially returning to the team when the league resumes play has proliferated. However, a report from the team-centric SB Nation blog Nets Daily has indicated that Durant has likely been ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Citing sources with knowledge of the situation, Nets insider Anthony Puccio wrote on Friday that the decision to hold Durant out until next season was made after the team evaluated its options following the NBA Board of Governors’ approval of a 22-team restart of the campaign. The former NBA MVP and two-time NBA champion (with the Golden State Warriors) is reportedly healthy, but the team remains concerned about the condensed schedule needed to complete the regular season and playoffs and its possible effects on his body.
Meanwhile, the status of All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving — who has been recovering from shoulder surgery — is still up in the air.
Durant last saw action during the 2019 NBA Finals when the Warriors battled the Toronto Raptors. After opening Game 5 of the series with an 11-point first quarter, Durant suffered an Achilles tendon injury early in the second period and was forced off of the court. The Warriors still won the game, but ultimately lost the series after dropping Game 6.
Nevertheless, the Nets signed him to a multi-year, maximum-money contract later that summer, with the knowledge that he would likely spend most or all of the 2019-20 season rehabbing his injury.
According to Puccio, Durant had been working out with teammates and assistant coaches in three-on-three and five-on-five scrimmages before the league suspended play on March 11. Reports of his increased level of activity on the court had fomented hope that an earlier-than-expected return was possible.
Before his injury, Durant was one of the league’s most potent scorers, averaging 27 points per contest over nearly 900 career games. He has also developed into a threat on the defensive side of the court, averaging nearly two blocks per contest during the 2017-18 NBA season.
As it stands, the Nets find themselves as near-locks for postseason play, even without Durant and/or Irving. Ahead of the resumption of play, Brooklyn has a half-game lead in the East standings over the Orlando Magic — the team currently in possession of the conference’s final playoff spot — and a six-game lead over the ninth-place Washington Wizards.
As reported previously by The Inquisitr , the league will conclude its season at a single venue — ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World resort near Orlando, Florida.
