Brooklyn Nets superstar forward Kevin Durant is expected to play in Thursday’s game against the Miami Heat according to team officials. Durant had missed the previous month and half with a sprained MCL in his left knee.
Prior to going down with the injury, Durant was putting together a solid campaign that was earning him some early season MVP buzz. With a 29.3pts/7.4reb/5.8ast statline to go alongside a 52% field goal percentage, the 6’10” forward was having arguably his best season since his 2014 MVP year.
In his absence, the Nets struggled through a 5-16 stretch that saw them fall from the upper echelons of the East to 8th place in the conference. If the playoffs were to begin today, the Nets would be forced to try to earn their way in via the play-in round with the Raptors, Hawks, and Hornets.
Wednesday marked the first time that Durant was not listed on the team injury report since mid-January. With 19 games remaining in Brooklyn’s regular season, the team hopes that Durant’s return, coupled with changing vaccination requirements in New York, and additional rehab for Simmons could finally lead to them seeing their new “Big 3” on the court at the same time.
Simmons, who came over with Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and two future 1st round picks in exchange for James Harden has yet to make his season debut as he continues to deal with back issues and mental health concerns. Irving has been present for many of the Nets road games, however has been sidelined for the team’s home games owing to mandates in the state of New York.
With restrictions beginning to lift across North America in the coming weeks, Nets fans are hopeful that Kyrie can return to the Barclays Centre sooner rather than later. While the Nets have a talented team on paper, the limited number of games remaining on the schedule means that when their revamped trio does finally take the floor simultaneously, they won’t have very long to develop on-court chemistry with one another.
With a combined 22x All-Star appearances between the three, Brooklyn is clearly hoping that skill will be enough to overcome a lack of reps as a team. The Nets currently trail Boston by 4.5 games for the 6th seed in the East to avoid the play-in tournament.
Brooklyn hosts the top seeded Miami Heat in a highly anticipated Eastern Conference showdown tomorrow night at 7:30pm ET.