Kevin Durant Eligible To Rejoin The Nets Friday Against Golden State

Kevin Durant is eligible to rejoin the Brooklyn Nets on Friday when they visit his former team, the Golden State Warriors.

Durant is sitting out for three games due to NBA contact tracing rules after he took several car rides on Friday with a Nets employee who tested positive for Covid-19. Durant himself tested positive for Covid last March and also missed three games last month after exposure to a positive Covid case. He continues to test negative now.

“I think we found out recently that he can rejoin the team Friday,” coach Steve Nash said on a Zoom call Saturday before the Nets lost to the 76ers in Philadelphia without Durant or Kyrie Irving. “So I’m assuming that’s the seven-day contact tracing protocol. And we’ll see him Friday, and I’ll be really excited to have him back.”

The Nets have lost two straight and three of four. They play Tuesday at Detroit before returning home Wednesday against Indiana.

Durant and the Nets opened the season with a win over Steph Curry and the Warriors and will face them again on Friday in California.

Durant, the second-leading scorer in the NBA and the leader in All-Star voting, did not start in Friday’s loss to Toronto in Brooklyn. It was later reported that he was out for contact tracing and might be available later in the game.

He came off the bench for the first time in 867 career games with 4:17 in the first quarter and impacted the game while he played. After officials overturned what would have been his fifth foul in the third quarter, he was told by a Nets official with 9:06 left in the third quarter that he had to leave the game due to NBA Health and Safety protocols. The Nets were leading at the time.

A visibly upset Durant threw a water bottle as he retreated to the locker room. He finished with eight points and five assists in 19 minutes.

“We get tested every single day. He’s been negative, so I don’t understand what the problem is,” Nets guard James Harden said. “If that was the case, the game should’ve been postponed. If we’re talking about contact tracing, he was around all of us, so I don’t understand why he was wasn’t allowed to play then was able to play and then taken back off.”