Durant likely to return Thursday against 76ers

LOS ANGELES — Nets star Kevin Durant did not clear the COVID-19 health and safety protocols in time for either his team’s Christmas Day showdown against the Los Angeles Lakers or Monday’s matchup against the shorthanded Clippers.

Head coach Steve Nash, however, suggested Durant, who tested positive for COVID-19 and entered the health and safety protocols on Dec. 18, should be available for Brooklyn’s matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday.

“I think there’s a good chance Kevin will be (available),” Nash said. “He’s already been in for eight days or more, so he should be. I’m not exactly sure of how many days right now, but he’s got to be getting close.”

The same is not expected of Kyrie Irving, the star guard set to make his season debut in the new calendar year after the Nets ruled him ineligible at the beginning of the season.

Irving is unvaccinated and thus banned from playing at Barclays Center (or Madison Square Garden) due to New York City’s vaccine mandate. The Nets had also banned Irving both from playing on the road in markets without such a mandate and from practicing with his teammates at the beginning of the season, but walked that decision back after more than half the roster entered the health and safety protocols in December.

The Nets are not rushing Irving — who averaged 27 points, six assists and five rebounds per game last season — back after missing so much time on the floor. They are going to ramp up his conditioning first, as he has not had access to the team’s training facilities and has not been able to get up and down on a basketball court against elite talent.

Irving also tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 18 and has yet to clear the NBA’S health and safety protocols.

“It’s hard to say, but I would say probably somewhere between a week and two weeks,” said Nash on Irving’s timeline. “He’s isolating, so that kind of puts another layer to the ramp-up. It’s not like he’s been working out. I’d imagine it’s going to be closer to two weeks once he comes out of protocols. We’ll see how it goes though because we have to evaluate him from a physical and performance standpoint, and then a basketball standpoint as well.”

Irving and the Nets can ill-afford another positive diagnosis for the star guard. From a health standpoint, Irving’s status as unvaccinated puts him at a higher risk of health complications due to COVID-19. From a planning standpoint, another positive test result likely means another 10 days in the health and safety protocols, unless he can register negative results on two consecutive days.

Irving is not included in the new guidance handed down from both the Centers for Disease Control and the NBA: The CDC reduced the isolation period for vaccinated federal health care workers from 10 days to five. The NBA followed suit and reduced the isolation period for vaccinated players to six days.