When Will Kevin Durant Be Back For The Brooklyn Nets?
Very few players in any professional sport are able to come back from an Achilles injury and play at the same level they were at pre-injury. Almost no professional athlete comes back from an Achilles injury and is better than they were before the injury.
Well, Kevin Durant has not only come back from his Achilles injury suffered in 2019, but he has played at an MVP-like level for the Brooklyn Nets.
Starting the year 2-6, the Nets looked like that they were once again setting themselves and their fan base up for disappointment, but they are now 27-13 on the season and just 1.5 games back from the 1-seed in the Eastern Conference.
Kyrie Irving has played a big role in the Nets’ success, but Kevin Durant is the engine of this franchise and the main reason why they have a chance to contend for a title.
However, Brooklyn is now faced with a massive roadblock and challenge, as Durant recently suffered a right knee injury in the team’s 102-101 victory over the Miami Heat this past Sunday.
Durant had been battling all game long and seemed to bang his knee a couple of times, but then Miami’s Jimmy Butler fell into Kevin Durant’s right leg/knee area and his leg bent inwards underneath him.
After leaving the game, the Nets stated that Durant would not return and on Monday, the team announced that their star forward had been diagnosed with an isolated MCL sprain of the right knee and that he will be reevaluated in two weeks.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Kevin Durant is expected to be sidelined for approximately a month and this MCL injury suffered on Sunday is not as serious as the one he suffered in his left knee a season ago, an injury which sidelined Durant close to six weeks.
So when will Kevin Durant actually be back for the Brooklyn Nets then?
Well, Durant will undoubtedly miss the next two-and-a-half weeks simply because he is being re-evaluated on January 23, the two-week mark from his MRI results, and it would be highly unlikely for the team to clear him at this mark and put him back out on the floor.
The Nets will likely want Kevin Durant to practice with no discomfort or pain before putting him back out on the floor, so let’s add another week to this recovery timeline laid out above.
That puts us around the three-and-a-half, four-week mark, which is spot-on to Wojnarowski’s report of Durant missing approximately one month.
The other factor that comes into play here for Kevin Durant and the Nets is the fact that the NBA All-Star Game is on February 19 and the All-Star break begins on Feb. 16 for Brooklyn.
There is definitely a chance that Durant could return in a month’s time, somewhere between their home game on Feb. 6 against the Los Angeles Clippers and their home game on Feb. 11 against the Philadelphia 76ers, but if the Nets are finding success without Durant on the floor, there won’t be as much of a rush to get him back out on the floor.
MCL injuries can be tricky and there is always a concern about putting a player back out on the floor too early and risking him re-injuring his knee.
In the case of Kevin Durant, he is too valuable to the Brooklyn Nets and their chances of success all season long for him to be out a prolonged period of time, which is why they will likely be patient with his recovery and take a week-by-week approach here.
Maybe he will be ready to return ahead of the All-Star break, but that extra week of rest could be valuable not only for his knee, but long-term, season-long fatigue.
Having Kevin Durant fresh and ready for the back-half of the season is vital for the Nets and given that they are in a position to contend for an Eastern Conference title this season, Brooklyn will not be taking any risks.
As of right now, it is safe to assume that Durant will return at some point during the Nets’ five-game home span between Feb. 4 and Feb. 11, but do not be shocked if they hold him out of games until after the All-Star break, especially if the Nets are able to sustain success without him.
Be sure to catch up on the newest episode of The Fast Break Podcast hosted by Fastbreak's own Brett Siegel!
Streaming on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, The Fast Break Podcast takes you inside the league with the latest news, intel, rumors and interviews from those close to the action for all 30 teams. Be on the lookout for a new episodes every Friday.
