After a confusing night around the status of the Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant at the Barclays Center, which included taking him out of the lineup before the game and the third quarter by contact tracking protocols , Durant will not play in Philadelphia on Saturday and could lose several games for the second time in a month, sources told ESPN.
Durant had contacted an associate on Friday who tested positive for coronavirus Friday night, just hours after an unfinished test shortly before the Nets’ 123-117 defeat to the Toronto Raptors.
This inspired a dramatic scene in the third quarter: a Nets officer informing Durant that he had to leave the bank to isolate himself, prompting one of the stars of the franchise to walk painfully through the bowels of Barclays, where , presumably, tweeted: “Free Me” in the final minutes of the game.
The Nets reported to the league office of the individual’s unfinished test on Friday afternoon, and were finally instructed to remove Durant from the pre-game warm-ups. Nets general manager Sean Marks was on the phone talking to the league office and relayed the information to the group on the court.
Moments later, Steve Nash and his coaching staff received news that Durant would not be available to start the game.
During leaving the court before the game, only for the NBA to allow him to return to the bench shortly after the start of the first quarter.
“During he was initially out of the game until he reviewed that result [de la prueba]”The league statement said.” Under league health and safety protocols, we do not require a player to be quarantined until a close contact has a confirmed positive test. “
Before Durant left the court for the last time during the third quarter, he was sitting on the bench while officers checked on a play in which he had committed his fifth foul of the night. The foul was disallowed, but Durant never re-entered.
When the requested time came to an end, a team official told Durant that he could not continue in the game. During moving his head in apparent frustration. As he walked back through the tunnel, Durant tossed his bottle of water.
Durant, who played 19 minutes in the game, continued to tweet Friday night after the game, questioning the timeline and details of the league.
As stars Lebron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo ridicule the league and NBPA’s plans for an NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta on March 7, a sense of rebellion arose from the superstars in the final part of the week.
“I don’t understand the whole thing where he couldn’t play, then he came on the court and then they took him back,” Nets escort James Harden said. “A lot of things are happening. Too many things are happening. It’s an overwhelming thing. We’re in the middle of a difficult game, and these games are going to add up, especially if we’re talking about qualifying and looking at the playoffs … to catch the rhythm. It’s overwhelming. It’s frustrating. “
“[Durant] being the same. Especially with him who already had it and we get tested every day. It has been negative [en las pruebas]. So, I don’t understand what the problem is. The game should have been postponed. If we are talking about contact tracking. He was close to all of us. So I don’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to play, then he was allowed to play and then he was taken off the court. If that were the case, we should have postponed the game. “
During contracting the coronavirus in March and still had these antibodies in early January when three games were lost due to contact tracking. Four weeks later, Durant could miss a similar six-day period, sources said.
After Friday’s game, Nash said he had difficulty, at times, compartmentalizing Durant’s absence during the game.
“I probably got a little distracted thinking about what it means in the long run for our team,” Nash said. “We’ve already been giving a lot of minutes to several players and if Kevin isn’t playing, will we keep adding minutes to the remaining players? So maybe I was a little distracted with the big picture.”
The Nets have away games on Saturday (Philadelphia) and Tuesday (Detroit) and return home on Wednesday (Indiana). The Nets will begin a trip to the West Coast next Saturday against Golden State.