If you were hoping to see Kevin Durant on the court right after the NBA All-Star break, you may want to pump the breaks a little bit.
Nets head coach Steve Nash told reporters on Wednesday that he didn’t expect Durant to take the floor right away once the all-star break had passed. It had been bantered about that Brooklyn’s game against the Boston Celtics could be the target date for the superstar’s return, but it may take some more time.
“We’ll see, I wouldn’t expect him. Yeah, I’m not like, ‘he’s gonna play right when the break ends,’ there’s obviously a small chance, but we want to be really careful and safe with Kevin,” Nash said. “Like, a setback would be tough when we only have by whatever it is, 20 or so games left, we don’t want to jeopardize it or have a setback where he misses another six to 10 or 12 games in the 20. So I think would be cautious coming out of the break.”
Durant has been sidelined since he sprained his MCL on Jan. 15 against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Barclays Center. Durant and the Nets have never given a timeline publically for when they expected him to return, but it was reported that the organization was expecting a 4-6 week recovery.
That had put the all-star break as the time many had circled for when they expected Durant to be back on the court.
It has been a tough stretch for Brooklyn since Durant was injured. At the time, they had been near the top of the Eastern Conference but they have since fallen to eighth and have gone 3-12 entering Wednesday’s game with the New York Knicks.
Brooklyn is hoping the return of Durant, coupled with the arrival of Ben Simmons will be the coupling that they need to move back up in the standings. The team is also holding out hope that Kyrie Irving will be able to play games at the Barclays Center at some point this season.
