According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Kevin Durant will have to quarantine for seven days after the league’s contact tracing initiative revealed that he had been exposed to Covid-19. Earlier in the outbreak, Durant had already contracted the coronavirus in May. Per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, he had contributed to registering antibodies and tested negative for the virus three times in recent days. NBA’s rules do not differentiate between players that have had Covid-19 and those that have not.
After losing four out of five game to fall under .500, the Brooklyn Nets well be without Durant for a run of games starting on Tuesday against the Utah Jazz and continuing through Thursday (Philadelphia 76ers), Friday (Memphis), and Sunday (Oklahoma City Thunder). He will be eligible to return on December 12 against the Denver Nuggets. His absence night push the Nets further down the Eastern Conference standings.
Already without Spencer Dinwiddie because of a torn ACL, the Nets will have to rely even more on Kyrie Irving and Caris LeVert to create shots for the rest of the team. Fortunately, the Nets should expect some positive shooting regression to give them a boost. In the NBA shooting, they are currently ranked No. 25 at 34.3 percent on three-pointers. It is unlikely to last givenn their talent.
Durant missing games this season was an inevitability given his health after a torn Achilles tendon. The Nets had already planned to rest him during back-to-backs. He has had a torrid offensive start to the season, averaging 28.2 points, 7 rebounds and 4.8 assists.
