Kevin Durant had COVID-19 last March, but he has been one of the players most affected by the league’s preventive measures against him so far this season. The Brooklyn Nets star lost three games in January because of the league’s health and safety protocols and was excluded from Saturday night’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers. Brooklyn coach Steve Nash said Durant could return to the team on Friday, the day before Brooklyn faced its former team, the Golden State Warriors, on February 13.
The reason for the nearly one-week quarantine is because Durant travels to and from the clinic with a staff member three times on Friday, without any of them wearing a mask. The team official reportedly tested positive for the virus.
This happened after Durant went through one of the strangest sagas of the season on Friday night, during the team’s game against the Toronto Raptors. He underwent contact tracking that prevented him from starting, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Malika Andrews. This is where things get complicated. Durant was then allowed to enter the game in the middle of the first quarter, marking his first off-bench appearance as an NBA player.
It was reported that he did not need to undergo further tests, but someone he came into contact with did so. Before the game, Durant traveled to and from the training facility with a team official three different times on Friday, none of them wearing a mask. The team official tested positive for the virus, which is why Durant was prevented from starting the game. However, he was released, played a good part of the game and was removed from the game during the third quarter due to the league’s health and safety protocols, because that person recorded a positive test. The NBA released the following statement explaining the situation.
“Kevin Durant has tested negative three times in the past 24 hours, including two negative PCR tests today. However, someone he interacted with this afternoon later had an inconclusive test return shortly before the game. Durant was initially kept out of the game while that the result was being revised. According to 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. During the game, a positive result was returned to the person who Durant interacted with this afternoon. Once the test was confirmed positive, as a precaution, Durant was removed from the game, and contact tracking is in progress to determine whether he was in fact a close contact with the positive individual.
Durant criticized the statement and the way the league handled the situation as a whole on Twitter.
NBA health and safety protocols make no distinction between players who have had COVID-19 and those who have not. If the rules are violated, players will be kept as a precaution against the spread of the virus. The Nets, as a team, had no game postponed because of the coronavirus, nor did any of their best players lose significant time on the court because of the virus this season.
Durant’s absence forced the Nets to start Bruce Brown in his place, against a suddenly resurgent Raptors team that won seven of their last 11 games after starting the season at the bottom of the standings. The Nets entered on Friday tied with the Milwaukee Bucks, two games behind the Philadelphia 76ers, as number one starter in the Eastern Conference.
The Nets had a turbulent start to the season thanks to Kyrie Irving’s unplanned absence and the depth lost in James Harden’s switch, so every game of the regular season counts. Now, this uncertainty surrounding Durant only complicates his attempt to gain an advantage at home.