Steve Nash on Kevin Durant's minutes: 'We'll Have Some Decisions to Make'
The Brooklyn Nets are in a similar spot to where they were last season when adversity struck. Although there's much, much less pressure since the preseason doesn't count, the team has to balance powering through the final two preseason games with injuries to key players and managing the 'Big 3' minutes. Those decisions start with Kevin Durant.
After Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Ben Simmons saw 19 first-half minutes in the preseason opener, the stars saw increased minutes against the Miami Heat Thursday night. Simmons played 25 and Durant saw a team-high 26 minutes.
Outside of Joe Harris (foot soreness) and Seth Curry (ankle) ruled out against the Milwaukee Bucks, Brooklyn has added Edmond Sumner (minor hip strain) to their injury list. He will likely be out for the Nets against the Bucks as well Wednesday night. To Steve Nash, who has put an emphasis on building continuity and cohesion to maximize the versatility the roster possesses entering the regular season, he'll have to rely on his depth to keep that hope alive.
"We're in a way better position," said Nash on the offseason additions patching injuries woes compared to last season. "Those are pretty pivotal guys that we're missing, especially right now. We can use Joe and Seth. We have a roster that can farm into a deep and versatile roster. Now, it's just continuing to build every day, get better, find that cohesion and understanding, and form an identity."
Enter Durant, who the Nets certainly have on the top of their priority list. The 34-year-old superstar has always held a heavy passion for playing as many minutes as he can. At practice in Industry City on Tuesday when he was asked how many regular season minutes he hopes to play a game, he simply said, "48."
Durant had to take on a heavy minutes burden last season due to the COVID-19 outbreaks that wrecked the roster and key injuries to his teammates along the way. The Nets head coach clearly wants to limit his superstar's minutes when he can but it'll once again be a day-to-day dialogue between him and Durant with the big picture in mind.
"In a perfect world, we can really limit his minutes so he's fresh and can get to the season, but we know we don't live in a perfect world. It would be ideal if we can keep his minutes down," Nash said. "It's something we got to communicate continually and try to figure out the best action forward; not just for the day-to-day but for the big picture."
Durant is no stranger to having his coaches prioritize his minute load. In his mind, it depends on how the team is playing on the hardwood that night.
"Every coach that I played for wants to keep my minutes down but when the game is tight or we're not playing well, I look over and say 'well, I was going to keep his minutes down tonight but he's just going to throw me in the game,'" Durant said. "We're playing well, my minutes will be down. If we're not, I got to play more."
The Nets season opener is only eight days away and the Nets want their two-time NBA champion in the best status possible to start the 82-game season. Now that Nash and the coaching staff have their fair share of injuries to deal with, he knows he'll have some decisions to make with Durant.
"It can be really challenging, especially when we're not healthy. When you're going down the pecking order and a lot of guys that are rotation or starters are out, those make it more difficult. But that's part of it. We'll have some decisions to make," Nash stated. "We just got to communicate through."
