Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant would not play if the NBA restarts the season, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Sunday.
The Nets are determined to let the four-time scoring champion rest until next season rather than risk reinjuring his Achilles tendon.
“Kevin Durant’s not coming back to the Nets this year,” Wojnarowski said in “The Woj Pod” podcast. “That’s not happening... They’re not playing him.”
Photo: AFP
Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks earlier this month said that he would not rule out Durant returning to the court if the league resumes the season. Play has been suspended since March 11 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He knows his body better than anybody,” Marks told New Zealand’s Newshub. “Our performance team and training staff have done a tremendous job getting him to this point, but I just don’t know how coming out of this pandemic will affect anybody, let alone Kevin.”
Durant, 31, was injured during Game 5 of last year’s NBA Finals as a member of the Golden State Warriors.
He signed a four-year, US$164 million deal with the Nets as a free agent in July last year.
The 10-time All-Star forward was the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in 2013-2014 as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
He was a two-time NBA Finals Most Valuable Player with the Warriors.
Meanwhile, the younger brother of Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo plans to skip college in the US and play professionally in Europe because he sees it as a faster route to the NBA.
Prospect Alex Antetokounmpo graduated from a high school in Milwaukee and has received scholarship offers from several colleges, including DePaul University in Chicago.
“I want to become a pro as soon as possible,” he said. “I was born and raised in Europe. I know European basketball and the best thing for me would be to sign a contract with a European club.”
Alex Antetokounmpo was born in Greece and played last season for Dominican High School.
“I will have to train and compete against grown men, I will experience strong competition and pressure,” he said of the European move.
If he reaches the NBA, Alex Antetokounmpo would become the fourth member of his family to get there, joining older brothers Giannis, the 2018-2019 NBA Most Valuable Player; Thanasis, who also plays for the Bucks; and Kostas, who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Alex Antetokounmpo moved to Milwaukee from Greece in 2013 during Giannis Antetokounmpo’s rookie season with the Bucks.
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