Durant doubts plan on player-ref issues

Count Warriors forward Kevin Durant among those who are skeptical about the NBA’s five-pronged plan to address relationships between players and referees.

“It’s a matter of what they’re trying to get accomplished,” Durant said after Golden State’s practice Friday. “If they’re trying to go and have a therapy session between the refs and the players, it’s pointless to do that.

“No player is going home at night thinking about a ref, what they said to a ref, and going to sleep mad at a ref. And vice versa. They just need to make sure all the rules are clear, because they switched up the rules this year.”

The league’s new initiative, which details five ways it plans to find common ground between players and referees, comes less than a month before players and referees are scheduled to meet during All-Star Game weekend in Los Angeles. It also arrives in the wake of a slew of high-profile run-ins between players and referees, several of which have involved members of the Warriors.

“It’s good to let us know what they’re thinking out there,” said Durant, whose 10 technical fouls are second in the NBA behind teammate Draymond Green’s 11. “And it’s good for us to let them know what we’re thinking as players as well. It’s about the dialogue, trying to make the game better.”

Per an ESPN report, Lee Seham — the general counsel for the National Basketball Referees Association — and players association Executive Director Michele Roberts talked last month for more than two hours at the National Basketball Players Association’s Manhattan offices about the NBRA’s belief that the league office has become too lenient in allowing players’ aggressive verbiage toward refs, among other problems.

Green has since told the Athletic that referees are “ruining the game.” A day after accusing referee James Williams of targeting him in Tuesday night’s win over the Knicks, Durant, who has been ejected four times this season, apologized for “being a jerk.”

“The more communication, the better,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said of the league’s five-pronged plan. “I think it will be really good for our guys to be face-to-face with some officials out of the arena, maybe on the practice court, for real conversation, a chance to get to know them, personalize the relationship a little bit. I think the league’s doing a good job with it.”

McCaw to return: Warriors guard Patrick McCaw is expected to return for Saturday’s game against the Celtics, Kerr said.

After missing Thursday night’s win over Minnesota with a mid-back strain, McCaw went through a light practice Friday morning with no problems. He is averaging four points, 1.4 assists and 1.5 rebounds per game this season.

Outside of rookie Jordan Bell, who is sidelined with an inflamed left ankle, the Warriors should be completely healthy for their game against Boston.