Will Kevin Durant Come Back to Play for the Nets This Season?
Brooklyn Nets fans get ready to rejoice.
A report earlier this weekend from New York Post columnist Brian Lewis said that small forward Kevin Durant may be able to return to the court this season from the torn Achilles he suffered during the 2019 NBA Finals.
While there are still many months until Durant can possibly return to the court, and suit up for the Brooklyn Nets, this was a positive piece of news that showed the All-Star's rehab is going better than initially thought. The recovery for an NBA player that suffers a torn Achilles is between 9-12 months.
Since Durant suffered the injury on June 13, the best-case scenario for a return to the court is sometime in mid-March. If this ends up being the case, and Durant is able to see the court only nine months after his surgery, he will have approximately a dozen games left in the regular season for him to get back in basketball shape, and geared up for a playoff run.
If Durant is able to return this season, he will most not look like himself because most athletes are not able to fully reclaim their pre-injury form until the year following their injury. Essentially in October of 2020, when Durant will be 32 years of age, he should look like the player he was on the Golden State Warriors.
Even though the Nets are not championship contenders this season, getting Durant into the flow of the team this year should pay dividends during the 2020-2021 NBA season. Giving Durant the ability to get some playing time on the court this upcoming season should ensure that he will be at the peak of his powers the following season.
There is sure to be rust, even for a player of Durant’s caliber, and being able to knock some of it off this season will be much better than having to knock it off during the beginning of the 2020 season.
Whether Durant comes back this season or not, all that matters is that he is healthy and ready to go by the time the 2020-2021 NBA season rolls around. This season is a trial run of sorts, as the Nets championship aspirations are put on hold due to the Durant injury. That will not be the case in just over a year from now.
That is when the championship or bust expectations begin, and the eyes of the basketball world turn to Brooklyn to see if this experiment will end with a Larry O’Brien Trophy being raised, or regret over what this team could have been.
