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If there is one ‘positive’ in regards to the sports world being put on hold it’s that it is allowing injured players to recover without missing games. It’s tough to say anyone is ‘benefitting’ given the current circumstances, but it’s also hard not to look ahead and realize this shutdown is increasing the chances we see Kevin Durant make his Nets debut this season, which wasn’t the case before the NBA hit pause.
After Durant ruptured his Achilles tendon and underwent surgery in June of 2019, the consensus was that he would need at least one full year of rehab before ever stepping on the court in Brooklyn. Well, June is fast-approaching and with the NBA season on hold for the foreseeable future this opens up a window that Durant could actually play in the regular season.
Nobody has any real clue what the NBA may elect to do in regards to the remaining few weeks left on the regular-season slate, the structure of the playoffs, or if the league even decides to play another game in 2020. Having said that, Brooklyn GM Sean Marks recently spoke with Newshub and made quite an interesting statement regarding Durant and his status.
“That’s a $110 million question,” Marks said. “In all seriousness, we’ve tried not to talk about his timeline a lot… He knows his body better than anybody. Our performance team and training staff have done a tremendous job getting him to this point, but I just don’t know how coming out of this pandemic will affect anybody, let alone Kevin.”
“When the timing is right, he’ll be 100 percent when he gets on the court.. I can tell you this though – before the pandemic, he looked like Kevin Durant and that’s a good thing.”
‘Before the pandemic, he looked like Kevin Durant’ is quite the bombshell to drop. It’s safe to say that Nets fans are rather excited with that information.
Let’s also not forget that just before the sports world shut down, Durant was caught playing pick-up games and dunking on everyone.
Kevin Durant looks pretty good (video was taken from his brother’s Instagram) pic.twitter.com/iMfpW4YBvm
— Stefan Bondy (@SbondyNBA) March 10, 2020
Brooklyn isn’t going to push Durant back on the court before he’s ready of course, but who is to say he won’t be ready when (and if) the NBA starts things back up again?