NEW YORK – Kevin Durant will miss the Nets’ next three games before being eligible to join the team on Friday, coach Steve Nash said ahead of Saturday’s game against the 76ers.
Durant drove with a team employee who tested positive for COVID-19 before losing to the Toronto Raptors on Friday, sources told ESPN. NBA health and safety protocols say that any player who has been exposed to someone with COVID-19 must be quarantined for six days.
The Nets will be without Durant on Saturday against the Sixers and on Tuesday and Wednesday against the Pistons and Pacers.
If Durant continues to give negative results for COVID-19, he will be eligible to return against his former team, the Golden State Warriors, on February 13th.
Durant was left without a mask in a car on Friday, along with the team’s employee three times separated, sources told ESPN. The Nets star drove with the employee to the practice unit for testing, at home from testing and playing. The NBA’s COVID-19 guidelines prohibit players and staff from traveling together without wearing protective gear.
The employee returned an inconclusive test result, and the Nets informed the league office on Friday afternoon of those results. A few minutes before disconnecting, the Nets were instructed to remove Durant from the warm-ups before the game. Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks had been on the phone with the league office and had spoken in court.
Durant returned in the middle of the first quarter and helped the Nets come back from a double-digit deficit.
“Durant was initially eliminated from the game while that result was being reviewed,” the league said in a statement issued Friday night. “According to the league’s health and safety protocols, it is not necessary for a player to be quarantined until close contact has a confirmed positive test.”
The Nets staff member returned a positive test during the game, and Durant was shot in the third quarter after playing 19 minutes.
“I don’t understand everything he couldn’t play in, then he came on the field, then they took him back,” Nets goalkeeper James Harden said after the game. “It’s just a lot of things happening. Too many things are happening. It’s kind of overwhelming. We’re in the middle of a tough game, and these games are going to come together, especially if we’re talking about sowing the playoffs … catching up. It’s overwhelming. It’s frustrating.
“[Durant] it feels the same. Especially if he already has it and we are tested every day. It was negative. So I don’t understand what the problem is. The game should have been postponed, that’s how I feel. If we talk about following contacts. He was all around us. So I don’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to play, then he was allowed to play, then he was taken back off the field. If that were the case, we should have postponed the game. “
All other players and Nets staff continue to test negative for coronavirus, sources told ESPN. The kidnappers did not return any positive test, sources said.
This is the second time Durant has had to miss an extended period of time this season as part of tracking league contacts. In early January, Durant missed six days and three games after being exposed to another person who tested positive for COVID-19.
Durant, who had COVID-19 in March, continued to register coronavirus antibodies and tested negative for the virus seven times in the past three days, sources said.
NBA COVID-19 protocols do not differentiate between players who have antibodies and those who do not.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, antibodies are “proteins that help fight infections and can provide protection against the recurrence of this disease.” Scientists are not yet sure what degree of immunity antibodies offer against reinfection. Durant is averaging 29.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists in 34.6 minutes of play for the Nets this season.