Nets’ Durant unlikely to hit court this season: GM

Brooklyn Nets GM Sean Marks confirmed Tuesday that forward Kevin Durant is expected to miss the entire 2019-20 season as he recovers from a torn right Achilles sustained in June.

“His rehab is going very well,” Marks said. “With Kevin, I think what we’re going to say is the expectations are that he’ll be out for the year. We’re not going to plan on him playing. His rehab will obviously be predetermined by, over the course of the next few months, how he goes with our performance team and so forth.”

Marks left the door open for that plan to change depending on how Durant feels about his progress.

“Ultimately, Kevin will have a large say in when he comes back and how he’s feeling,” Marks said. “But the expectation now is for him to be out for the year.”

Durant signed a four-year, $164-million contract with the Nets in July after his former team, the Golden State Warriors, lost to Toronto in the NBA Finals. He ruptured his right Achilles tendon in Game 5 of the series.

Durant, who turns 31 Sunday, missed only four regular-season games in 2018-19, posting averages of 26 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game. He missed nine games during the post-season with a right calf strain before returning and tearing his Achilles in his first game back.

Amid speculation that the Warriors brought him back before he was healthy, Durant told Yahoo Sports in August the team did not pressure him into returning and deserves none of the blame.

The 2013-14 MVP and fourtime scoring champ, Durant has 10 consecutive all-star selections. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder before playing the last three with the Warriors.

Reuters