Any injury risk that would be presented for former Texas basketball star forward Kevin Durant to rejoin the Nets for the playoffs isn’t worth it.
The thoughts surrounding the former member of the Texas basketball program, Kevin Durant, that he could potentially make a return to the hardwood this season if the NBA decides to jump straight into the playoffs is one that has some flaws. The Brooklyn Nets superstar and Texas Ex KD has missed the entirety of the 2019-20 NBA season to date after he tore his achilles tendon in the playoffs with the Golden State Warriors last year.
When the former five-star recruit of the Texas Longhorns basketball program Durant tore his achilles tendon in last year’s playoff run, the Warriors were essentially outmatched by Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors in the finals.
According to a recent report involving Nets standout point guard Spencer Dinwiddie with ESPN’s morning show “Get Up, it sounds like the status of Durant with the Nets is largely still up in the air. Concerning the matter of Durant potentially returning alongside fellow superstar and point guard Kyrie Irving, their teammate Dinwiddie said this: “That’s the billion dollar question. But that’s not something I can answer”.
Obviously is KD and Kyrie can come back together at full health, it would do wonders for the Nets chances to be a dark horse in the race to make it to the NBA Finals. Kyrie dealt with a shoulder issue for much of the season, and KD steadily worked his way back from the torn achilles.
Here was Dinwiddie on what KD and Kyrie would mean to the Nets paired together in the playoffs this year with the Nets.
"“If they’re not able to return, which they’ve pretty much said that’s kind of the stance that they’re taking, we still want to be a team that grinds to get to the playoffs and makes a run in the playoffs. But we also understand the talent they add with being two of the top-10 players in the league and KD being, in my opinion, the greatest scorer of all time.”"
If and when the NBA makes its return from the indefinite season suspension due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, it likely won’t involve much more of the regular season slate, if any at all. And the Nets would be one of the teams that would be able to jump straight into the playoffs as the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.
The last season that KD played in was the 2018-19 campaign with the Warriors. He played in 26.0 points per game, 6.4 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 0.7 steals, and 1.1 blocks, while shooting 52.1 percent from the field and 35.3 percent from beyond the arc during the 2018-19 regular season with the Warriors.
What KD would bring to the table is an immediate spark for the Nets in a possible playoff run this year. But it is not worth the injury risk that he could sustain, like he did last year when it cost the Warriors their chance possibly at beating the Raptors in the NBA Finals.