Durant eligible to rejoin Nets on Friday, Nash says

02/07/2021

Staff Writer
Joined ESPN in 2018
Appears regularly on ESPN Chicago 1000

NEW YORK — Kevin Durant is ineligible to play in the Nets’ next three games after he drove 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 on Saturday.

The NBA’s health and safety protocols say that any player who was exposed to someone with COVID-19 must quarantine for six days.

The Nets will be without Durant for a string of games, beginning on 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 Feb. 13.

Durant was maskless in a car on Feb. 5 with a team employee who tested positive three separate times, sources told ESPN. The Nets’ star drove with the employee to the practice facility for testing, home from testing and to the game.

After Durant arrived at the game on Friday, the associate returned an inconclusive COVID-19 test. Minutes before tipoff, Durant was pulled from the starting lineup. He returned midway through the first quarter. In the third quarter, during a time out, a Nets staff member came over to Durant and seemed to tell Durant that he was ineligible to finish the game.

Durant played 19 minutes before exiting.

All other Nets players and staff members continue to test negative for COVID-19. The Raptors have not returned any positive tests, sources told ESPN.

Durant, who had COVID-19 in May, has continued to register antibodies and tested negative for the virus seven times over the past three days, sources said.

The NBA’s 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 off infections and can provide protection against getting that disease again.” Scientists are still unsure what degree of immunity antibodies provide against being infected again.

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