Nets not planning for Durant to play at all in 2019-20

NEW YORK >> The Brooklyn Nets expect to wait a year before Kevin Durant plays for them.

General manager Sean Marks said Tuesday the Nets are planning this season without the injured All-Star. He added Durant will have a say in determining when he’s ready.

“With Kevin, I think what we’re going to say is the expectations are that he’ll be out for the year,” Marks said.

Durant is recovering from surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon. He was injured while playing for Golden State in the NBA Finals.

At the time, the Nets left open the possibility that Durant could play this season. That’s still possible, but Marks isn’t banking on it.

“I’ve been excited to see, I think we all have, how he’s approached this rehab, which has been great, very refreshing and energizing for the whole group,” Marks said. “But at the end of the day, this is a long-term plan here. This was never about this next season. This is about getting an elite athlete back to elite physical shape on the court, whatever that takes.”

Marks said Durant hasn’t given any indication that he plans to take things slowly.

“I think you’re looking at one of the great competitors out there, so I think I would be remiss if I said no, he probably doesn’t want to play,” Marks said. “I think it’s obvious he wants to play, but I think there’s more at stake here.”

Bucks fined $50,000 for Antetokounmpo comment

NEW YORK >> The NBA fined the Milwaukee Bucks $50,000 Tuesday over a comment general manager Jon Horst made about the team’s plans to offer league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo a “supermax” extension.

The league says Horst violated league rules “governing the timing of discussions regarding future player contracts and permissible commitments to players.” The Bucks cannot publicly commit to offering anyone a supermax until the summer following that player’s seventh season.

Antetokounmpo is entering his seventh season. He would be eligible to sign a record five-year extension worth nearly $250 million in July 2020.