Kevin Durant made his long-awaited return to the Bay Area on Saturday night and added 20 points, five rebounds and six assists to lead the Brooklyn Nets to an easy victory over the Golden State Warriors. It turns out that this was the last time we’ll see him for a while.
The Nets announced on Sunday that Durant was diagnosed with a “slight” tendon strain in the thigh and, at the very least, will not play in the next two games. Via team press release:
Brooklyn Nets striker Kevin Durant was diagnosed with a slight strain on his left tendon after an assessment today. Durant will miss at least the next two games (February 15 at SAC and February 16 at PHX) while receiving treatment. Further updates will be released as information becomes available.
Obviously, this is not good news, but it also doesn’t seem to be particularly serious or something that we need to worry about in the long run. At the very least, it seems like a convenient excuse to get Durant to rest a little longer during a long trip. It would come as no surprise if Durant were prepared to play next Thursday against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Durant has been even better than expected this season after his return from a broken Achilles tendon, and in 19 games he has averaged 29 points, 7.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists, shooting 52.4 percent on the field and 43.4 percent in 3-point territory.
But it’s important to manage your workload to make sure he doesn’t do too much in a short time and runs out of gas in the postseason. Up to this point, Durant and the Nets didn’t have much of a choice on that front. The COVID-19 protocols forced Durant to miss two periods of various games, which ended up giving him extra days off.