No sense in rushing Durant and Kyrie back even if season resumes

The coronavirus pandemic has forced the Brooklyn Nets’ two injured superstars to change how they rehab.

Kevin Durant — now recovered from the coronavirus himself — had been doing a good chunk of his injury rehab out of the team’s HSS Training Facility in Industry City. So was Kyrie Irving.

That facility is now closed due to the pandemic.

“There are several of our players that need our facilities,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said on a conference call Wednesday morning. “This hiatus has shifted rehabilitation back and it’s slowed that.“

Marks said he knows both Irving and Durant are continuing their rehab at home, but they’re doing so while practicing social distancing and self-isolation.

“I haven’t physically seen them in three or four weeks. It is difficult for me to gauge along with the performance team as to where they are,” he said. “We are talking to them. We are FaceTiming them and so forth, but it is quite different to having those guys on the court. And they know their bodies better than anybody else. So, at the right time and when they are 100% and when they’re up for it, I am sure they will be making those decisions.”

Whether the season resumes next week (it won’t), next month (not likely) or as far out as June or July, there’s no sense in bringing either of the injured stars back. Not without a new head coach. Not without a complete roster. Not without a legitimate shot at winning it all.

Chemistry, or lack thereof, has been the biggest issue in Brooklyn this season. Bringing in two stars under an interim head coach alongside players with admittedly uncertain futures in Brooklyn, is not a recipe for winning a championship. There is no sense in building chemistry with players who may very well be wearing different jerseys next season.

Theoretically, a June or July return would mark a one-year Achilles rehab period for Durant. Achilles tears generally take a maximum of one year to return to full strength. Durant is far further along in his injury rehab than Irving, an injury-prone aggressive scorer who underwent shoulder surgery a month ago.

Irving has only played more than 70 games in three of his nine seasons in the

NBA and has had injury troubles dating back to a toe injury that ended his only season at Duke eight games in. He has sustained three separate injuries (orbital fracture, right shoulder impingement and right knee sprain) since signing in Brooklyn.

No timetable was provided for his rehab, but he is expected to make a full recovery and return next season.

Next season should be circled on the calendar, not next month or the month after. The Nets are gunning for a championship. That’s the only acceptable outcome of the Durant and Irving era in Brooklyn — at the bare minimum, several trips to the NBA Finals. Anything less is a disappointment, and not just for fans, but for two stars who have won rings elsewhere.

Time is of the essence, and so is health. Durant and Irving signed four-year deals over the summer, and we’re already about to be in Year 2. The first season saw no games from Durant and just a handful of games from Irving.

There is no sense in risking an encore of this season.

ALL CLEAR

In addition to Durant, the other three Nets players who tested positive for the coronavirus have cleared their 14-day self-isolation and quarantine, Marks said.

“So far, everybody is healthy,” Marks said. “They are still practicing social distancing like the rest of us. They are cleared like everybody, like the rest of the team and the staff right now. … The entire travel party, Nets organization right now, basketball operations department is symptom free.”

The coronavirus outbreak hit the Nets harder than any other NBA team. The team announced four players tested positive on March 17, with three asymptomatic players and one player experiencing symptoms.