Nets GM unsure if Durant, Irving could play if NBA season resumes
NEW YORK » With so much uncertainty around the NBA season, Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks is no longer ruling out Kevin Durant for the season.
Marks repeatedly had said he didn’t expect Durant to play this season while recovering from Achilles tendon surgery, but he acknowledged Wednesday that everything is unknown now that the season is suspended because of the new coronavirus.
Durant was injured in the 2019 NBA Finals, so he would have a year to recover if the league were to resume in June.
Even Kyrie Irving, who had shoulder surgery on March 3, might be available if play stretched into the summer.
But Marks said he couldn’t even give an answer if the superstars would be able to play this season.
“I don’t think that’s fair, one to those athletes, nor the performance team, to put a timeline on this. I think everybody is dealing with bigger items, far more pressing items,” Marks said during a conference call.
“I do know that those two players are continuing their rehab, but again, when you’re practicing social distancing and you’re in selfisolation, I haven’t physically seen them in three or four weeks. So it’s difficult for me to gauge, let alone the performance team, as to where they are.”
Irving played 20 games during an injury-plagued first season in
Brooklyn before undergoing arthroscopic surgery to relieve a right shoulder impingement. There was no timetable for his return.
A potential extra couple of months could benefit the injured players. But with all team practice facilities shut, the time it takes to rehab may be lengthened.
“I think something we have to think about is our facilities are closed and just by getting time off, yes, does that make your body heal and so forth?” Marks said.