Durant’s hamstring injury will now keep him out through All-Star break

NEW YORK — Two games has turned into more than two weeks.

Nets star Kevin Durant’s “mild” left hamstring strain is more severe than originally expected, and Brooklyn, rightfully so, is playing it safe. A routine follow-up MRI determined Durant requires “an additional recovery period” that will keep him out through the March 5-10 NBA All-Star break.

If this time frame holds, Durant will miss nine regular season games due to this injury, plus the March 7 All-Star Game.

“It sucks to not have

Kevin,” Nets head coach Steve Nash said matter-offactly after team practice on Friday. “He’s an amazing, amazing basketball player, and anytime you have the Lamborghini in the garage, it’s meant to be on the road. So, we’re all disappointed. But the team is going to be fine for stretches without Kevin. It’s more, you have this incredible player, and you want to build with him, and beyond that you just want Kevin to play. That’s what he was born to do, and what he does as well as anybody on the planet.

The news comes just days after Nash voiced confidence Durant would be able to return before the All-Star break. But the second round of MRI imaging was clearer because there was less bleeding around the injury. The Nets will re-assess Durant’s hamstring following the All-Star break, the team said in a statement. There still remains no definite return date for the Nets’ star forward.

“We’d like for him to be out there playing and healthy and happy and all that stuff, but life is about adversity and coming back from it,” Nash said. “So he’ll bounce back. He’s done it hundreds of times in his career and we have all the faith in him and his body and his mind that he’ll overcome this one as well.”