Kevin Durant will miss at least two games for the Brooklyn Nets with a strain of his back curve in his hamstring, the team announced Sunday.
Brooklyn described the tension as mild, but said in a statement that Durant will leave Monday against Sacramento and Tuesday against Phoenix while receiving treatment.
Durant played his first game in a week on Saturday. On Feb. 5, he had been placed in league safety and health protocols after maintaining close contact with an employee of the team who tested positive for coronavirus. Durant returned to practice on Feb. 12 and played 33 minutes in Saturday’s win over the Golden State Warriors.
The Big Three of the Nets, James Harden and Kyrie Irving have played just seven games together since Harden was moved to Brooklyn in mid-January. That total of seven games includes the game earlier this month against Toronto, in which Durant was retired in the third quarter and placed in the league’s contact tracking protocols.
Durant said Friday that he hoped to use the West Coast five-game road trip for the Nets to continue building chemistry on the fields with his new teammates. Now first-year head coach Steve Nash is tasked with reshaping a roster that has already seen 17 different starting lineups, tied with the Wizards for most of the league this season, according to an ESPN Stats investigation & Information.
Coming out of an Achilles tear that cost him all last season, Durant has averaged 29 points, 7.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists this season for Brooklyn. He has lost nine of the Nets ’28 games this season; Brooklyn is 2-2 without him since he switched to Harden last month.
DeAndre Jordan, who missed Saturday’s game for personal reasons, is considered likely to return to the Nets ’injury report for Monday’s game against the Kings.