The team announced Sunday that Kevin Durant will miss at least two games for the Brooklyn Nets with a left thigh muscle.
Brooklyn called the tension soft, but said in a statement that Durant would be against Sacramento on Monday and against Phoenix on Tuesday while receiving treatment.
Durant played Saturday in his first game in a week. He was placed in the league’s health and safety protocols on February 5 after having close contact with a teammate who tested positive for the coronavirus. Durant returned to practice on February 12 and played 33 minutes in the victory over the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.
The Nets’ Big Three of Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving have only played seven games together since Harden was traded to Brooklyn in mid-January. The total of seven games includes the game earlier this month against Toronto in which Durant was drawn in the third quarter and placed in the league’s contact tracking protocols.
Durant said Friday he hopes to use the Nets’ five-day West Coast road trip to continue building chemistry with his new teammates on the track. First-year head coach Steve Nash has the task of reshuffling a ranking that has already seen 17 different starting teams – according to ESPN Stats & Information, the Wizards for the most time in the league this season.
Due to an Achilles tear that cost him last season, Durant scored 29 points, 7.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists for Brooklyn. He missed nine of the Nets’ 28 games this season; Brooklyn has been 2-2 without him since trading for Harden last month.
DeAndre Jordan, who missed the game on Saturday for personal reasons, is considered likely to return on the Nets’ injury report for Monday’s game against the Kings.