Kevin Durant, from Brooklyn Nets, does not travel, can play several games due to contact tracking protocols

After a confused night around the status of Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant at Barclays Center – which included him being pulled out of the pre-game and third quarter roster for contact tracking protocols – Durant will not be traveling to Philadelphia in the Saturday game and can be missed by several games for the second time in a month, sources tell ESPN.

Durant contacted an associate on Friday who tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday night, just hours after returning an inconclusive test shortly before the Nets’ 123-117 defeat to the Toronto Raptors.

This inspired a more dramatic third-quarter scene: a Nets officer informing Durant that he had to leave the bank to isolate himself, causing a confused franchise star to crawl into the bowels of Barclays, where, presumably, he tweeted, “Set me free” in the final minutes of the game.

The Nets informed the league office about the individual’s inconclusive test on Friday afternoon and were finally instructed to remove Durant from the warm-up before the game. Nets general manager Sean Marks was on the phone with the league office and delivered a message to the court.

Moments later, Steve Nash and his coaching staff discovered that Durant would not be available to start the game.

Durant left the court before the game, only for the NBA to release him and return to the bench shortly after the start of the first quarter.

“Durant was initially prevented from playing while the result was analyzed,” said the league statement. “In accordance with the league’s health and safety protocols, we do not require a player to be quarantined until a close contact has a confirmed positive test.”

Before Durant left the court for the last time during the third quarter, he was sitting on the bench while the referees reviewed a play in which he had committed his fifth foul of the night. The foul was canceled, but Durant never checked again.

When the time limit expired, a team official told Durant that he could not continue the game. Durant shook his head in apparent frustration. As Durant walked back through the tunnel, he threw his water bottle.

Durant, who played 19 minutes of play, continued to tweet Friday night after the game, questioning the schedule and details of the league.

In the wake of NBA stars LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo ridiculing the NBA and the NBPA’s plans for an Atlanta All-Star game on March 7, a sense of revolt emerged at the end of the week.

“I don’t understand the whole thing that he couldn’t play, so he went on the court and they took him back,” said Nets guard James Harden. “There’s a lot going on. There’s a lot going on. It’s kind of oppressive. We’re in the middle of a tough game, and those games are going to add up, especially if we’re talking about the playoff rankings… To pick up a pace. It’s oppressive. It’s frustrating. “

“[Durant] feels the same way. Especially with him already having it and we take the test every day. He was negative. So, I don’t understand what the problem is. The game should have been postponed, I feel. If we’re talking about contact tracking. He was close to all of us. So I don’t understand why he was not allowed to play, then he was allowed to play and was taken off the court. If that were the case, we should have postponed the game. “

Durant contracted the coronavirus in March and still had these antibodies in early January, when he was lost to four games because of contact tracking. Four weeks later, Durant could be lost for a similar period of six days, sources said.

After Friday’s game, Nash said he sometimes struggled to compartmentalize Durant’s absence during the game.

“I was probably a little distracted thinking about what this means in the long run for our team,” said Nash. “We’ve been playing with guys for many minutes and if Kevin isn’t playing, are we going to leave the remaining guys for many minutes? So maybe I was a little distracted by the big picture.”

The Nets have street games on Saturday (Philadelphia) and Tuesday (Detroit) and return home on Wednesday (Indiana). The Nets begin a trip to the West Coast next Saturday against the Golden State.