Jacque Vaughn non-committal on Kevin Durant's status vs. Pacers
The Brooklyn Nets have been working behind the scenes to provide their superstar forward Kevin Durant needed rest in the early portion of the regular season.
After trimming down on practices and shootarounds in the recent week, Durant, who is nearing 1,000 minutes played through all 28 games, could have his needed rest day come Saturday night in Indiana vs. the Indiana Pacers.
“The minutes are adding up. We’ll always be smart in terms of short term, long term,” said Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn on Durant’s minutes load. “I’ll see how they [KD & Royce O’Neale] come from this game. If we can get through tomorrow, the schedule’s in our favor to get a little break.”
The matchup against the Pacers will be a second game of a back-to-back. In Friday night’s victory over the Atlanta Hawks, Durant logged a total of 36 minutes, bringing his season total (a league-high) to 994 minutes.
“I just listen. I try to do everything,” said Durant on the dialogue between himself and Vaughn when it comes to discussing his high minutes load. “They’ve got my best interest at heart so I just listen to what they say and go with it.”
After the win over Atlanta, Durant was asked whether he knows if he‘s playing against the Pacers Saturday night. His response: ‘As of right now, you got to talk to Jacque about that.”
Durant isn’t the only Net on the team with high, concerning minute totals. Royce O’Neale, who entered Friday’s game ranking second in the league in total minutes played (934). It’s undetermined whether the veteran wing will play or rest against Indiana. He played 37 minutes in the win against the Hawks.
Irving, who is averaging 36.7 minutes across his 18 games played, has a target range in mind for his minutes load during the 2022-23 NBA season.
“My minutes are pretty solidified over the last few games so if I can stay between 32 and 35, 36 minutes even though I played 39 tonight, I would like that for the rest of the regular season,” said Irving on his minutes load. “But some games we're gonna go with feel, me and Jacque have been talking about it so we got a good dialogue.”
Although Durant and O’Neale are due for a rest day, the team has already ruled Ben Simmons and T.J. Warren out against the Pacers. Both players are coming off injury absences and the team is talking a cautious approach during back-to-back with each player.
Yuta Watanabe, who has missed 10 straight games due to a right hamstring strain, is on track to make his return against Indiana.
