THE CHRISTMAS
If there’s a COVID-19 silver lining, it’s rest for KD, Beard
Call it a second wind. Or maybe call it a silver lining. Nets stars Kevin Durant and James Harden each ranked in the top 10 in total minutes played this season, but will now have fresh legs upon exiting the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
“Definitely getting them that rest and recuperation, regeneration,” Nets head coach Steve Nash said on Thursday. “I think it’s a silver lining to this.”
Harden entered the protocols on Dec. 14 but exited on Thursday along with Paul Millsap and Jevon Carter. Barring another positive COVID-19 test result, The Beard will play on Christmas Day in Los Angeles against the Lakers.
Meanwhile, Durant entered the protocols on Saturday and is not expected to play against the Lakers. His only path to do so is registering two consecutive negative tests in a 24hour span. Otherwise, he must serve a full 10day period in the health and safety protocols before rejoining the team with an estimated arrival date of Dec. 28.
“We are not expecting anyone else to come out of protocols, but it is possible,” Nash said on Thursday. “You have to do two negative tests 24 hours apart. I guess that gives us tonight and tomorrow night to return two negatives, but we are not predicting anybody to come out necessarily.”
As injuries and absences have decimated the Nets roster, Durant and Harden have been left to pick up the slack.
Durant has logged 999 minutes in 33 games and is on pace to carry his heaviest basketball load since the 2013-14 season. He has logged 40 or more minutes in a game five times since Nov. 27 and played more than 48 minutes in the Nets’ Dec. 14 overtime victory over the Toronto Raptors — a game Brooklyn played with only eight players.
Durant ranks 21st among NBA players in total minutes despite not having played since Dec. 16 and ranks second only to Toronto’s Fred VanVleet in minutes per game (37). Before entering the protocols, Durant played in 27 of 29 possible games. He also played in both games of two of the Nets’ three sets of back-to-backs so far this season.
Harden ranks 44th in total minutes (942) despite not playing since Dec. 10 and ranks eighth in minutes per game (36.2). He played in the first 26 games of the season before resting Game 27 in Detroit on Dec. 12. Two days later, Harden returned a positive COVID-19 test and entered the health and safety protocols.
Durant’s minutes load, however, has been a black-and-white topic of discussion for Nash, who ties the team’s odds at winning basketball games to Durant’s time spent on the floor. Yes, he is only a couple seasons removed from a devastating ruptured Achilles tendon injury, but Durant is healthy and wants to play — and win — every game he can. Without Joe Harris (ankle surgery) and without Kyrie Irving (previously ineligible), the Nets haven’t had many alternatives to playing their star player as many minutes as it takes to win games.
“It’s not ideal to have him have such a burden, but I don’t know what options we have other than to play him less and lose more,” Nash said of Durant’s growing minutes on Nov. 30. “He’s a great player, and we’re down a great player (Irving) and a really good player (Harris) and a few others. So I don’t know if we have the luxury right now. Hopefully, the season gives us opportunities.”
Durant and Harden now project to emerge from the health and safety protocols with fresh legs, though they will undoubtedly need to shake some of the rust off after more than a week of inactivity. Another saving grace for their minutes: Irving is returning to the lineup for road games now that the Nets have ruled him eligible to serve as a part-time player in cities that allow unvaccinated visiting players. (The only cities he cannot play in are Toronto and New York City)
Irving won’t be available at home, however, and the Nets, even when fully healthy, have shown a need to ride Durant and Harden to win games.
“They’re still going to be leaned on a lot. We’ll see,” Nash said. “It would be nice if, at the end of this at some point, we can have a full roster and kind of — like we said at the start of the year — reset and continue that (rotation) experimentation and, at the same time, just keep improving.”