Kevin Durant sidelined due to NBA's COVID-19 protocol
Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant will not play in Tuesday’s game against the Utah Jazz in compliance with the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
The Nets announced the news on Monday.
The team did not not provide any more details on Durant’s status. The Nets star has not addressed the news.
Durant has already contracted COVID-19
Durant announced in March that he contracted COVID-19. Monday’s news does not mean that he has tested positive again. It means that he has triggered a clause in the NBA’s 134-page manual outlining the league’s health and safety protocols for the new season being played outside of a bubble.
For example, several Houston Rockets players, including John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, were forced to quarantine at the outset of the season after reportedly gathering for haircuts in an apartment where some of the players present either tested positive or returned inconclusive tests. James Harden was also placed in quarantine for attending a “private indoor party” without a mask.
How long will Durant be out?
The Athletic’s Shams Charania reports that Durant is expected to require seven days of quarantine because of contact tracing and potential exposure. Assuming that seven-day window starts on Monday, that means Durant will also miss upcoming games against the Philadelphia 76ers, Memphis Grizzlies and Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Nets are off to a 3-4 start in Durant’s first season with the team. Durant has played in six of those games and is averaging 28.2 points, seven rebounds and 4.8 assists while shooting 51.4 percent from the field and 45.5 percent from 3-point distance.
Durant missed all of last season after suffering an Achilles tear during the 2019 NBA Finals as a member of the Golden State Warriors.
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