NEW YORK – Kevin Durant is not fit to play in the next three Nets games after driving with a team employee who tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, sources told ESPN. Durant will be eligible to rejoin the team on Friday, Feb. 12, coach Steve Nash said Saturday.
NBA safety and health protocols say any player who was exposed to someone with COVID-19 will have to be quarantined for six days.
The Nets will be without Durant for a series of games, starting Saturday against Philadelphia. He will also miss games against the Pistons on Tuesday and the Pacers on Wednesday.
If Durant continues to test negative for COVID-19, he will be eligible to return against his former team, the Golden State Warriors, on February 13th.
During Feb. 5, Durant was without a mask in a car with a team employee who tested positive three times, sources told ESPN. The Nets star drove with the employee to the training room to rehearse, at home from rehearsals and to the game.
After Durant arrived at the match on Friday, the associate returned an inconclusive COVID-19 test. Minutes before the descent, Durant was withdrawn from initial training. He came back in the middle of the first quarter. In the third quarter, during a timeout, a Nets staff member came to Durant and seemed to tell Durant he was unfit to finish the game.
Durant played 19 minutes before leaving.
The rest of the players and members of the Nets squad remain negative for COVID-19. The Raptors have not returned any positive evidence, sources told ESPN.
For the past three days, Durant, who had COVID-19 in May, has continued to register antibodies and has been negative for the virus seven times over the past three days.
NBA COVID-19 protocols do not differentiate between players who have antibodies and those who do not.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, antibodies are “proteins that help fight infections and can provide protection against the disease again.” Scientists are still unsure of the degree of immunity that antibodies offer against re-infection.