Kevin Durant will miss at least two games for the Brooklyn Nets due to a sprained left hamstring, the team announced on Sunday.
Brooklyn classified the tension as mild, but said in a statement that Durant will be out on Monday against Sacramento and Tuesday against Phoenix while receiving treatment.
Durant played his first game in a week on Saturday. He was placed on the league’s health and safety protocols on February 5, after having close contact with a staff member who tested positive for the coronavirus. Durant returned to training on February 12 and played 33 minutes in Saturday’s victory over the Golden State Warriors.
Durant’s three big Nets, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, have only played seven games together since Harden was traded to Brooklyn in mid-January. That total of seven games includes the game earlier this month against Toronto, in which Durant was withdrawn in the third quarter and placed in the league’s contact tracking protocols.
Durant said on Friday that he hopes to use the Nets’ five games on the west coast to continue building chemistry on the court with his new teammates. Now, first-year coach Steve Nash is tasked with reshaping a squad that has already had 17 different starting formations – tied with the Wizards for the majority in the league this season, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
Coming out of an Achilles break that cost him the whole of last season, Durant has averaged 29 points, 7.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists this season for Brooklyn. He lost nine of the Nets’ 28 games this season; Brooklyn is 2-2 without him since negotiating for Harden last month.
DeAndre Jordan, who missed Saturday’s game for personal reasons, is listed as a likely return in the Nets injury report for Monday’s game against Kings.