The Brooklyn Nets are not expecting Kevin Durant to play this season as he recovers from his torn Achilles.
“With Kevin, I think what we’re going to say is the expectations are that he’ll be out for the year. We’re not going to plan on him playing,” Sean Marks said. “His rehab will obviously be predetermined by over the course of the next few months, how it goes, with our performance team and so forth, but ultimately Kevin will have the final say when he comes back and how he’s feeling. But the expectation now for him to be out for the year.”
Durant suffered the injury in Game 5 of The Finals.
“This is just an easier way to say that Kevin controls the rehab,” he said. “And he’s attacking this like no other. I’ve been excited to see — I think we all have — how he approached this rehab. It’s been great, very refreshing and energizing for the whole group. But at the end of the day, this is a long-term plan here. This was never about next season. This was about getting an elite athlete back to elite physical shape."
Durant signed a four-year deal with the Nets this offseason and both sides are taking a long-term approach.
“He’s been extremely thorough with what he’s done,” Marks said. “I think you’re looking at one of the great competitors out there. It’s obvious he wants to play.
"But there’s more at stake here. Again, this is a long-term approach. There’s a lot of people with a lot of sweat equity in this from the rehab perspective and so forth so I think this will be a group decision and obviously Kevin included as to when and how that return is made.”
