Just minutes before the start of Friday’s clash between Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets, Kevin Durant starred in the night’s controversy. The Nets forward had COVID-19 last March, and this season he has missed three games due to the League’s health and safety protocols.
As reported by Adrian Wojnarowski and Malika Andrews from ESPN, the former MVP underwent a contact tracing that prevented him from starting the match. Apparently the problem was not the tests Durant himself underwent, but someone the player came into contact with.
The situation became confusing. At first, Durant was allowed to enter the game already started from the bench. But in the third quarter, Durant had to go to the locker room while it was reported that the player would not return to the park for the rest of the game, due to the same protocol .. the portal highlighted nbamaniacs.com.
At the end of the game, the NBA ruled through a statement to indicate that Durant was not allowed to start the game in the first instance due to the inconclusive result of a person with whom he had contact.
Putting the situation in analysis, and with three negatives for KD during the last 24 hours, he was allowed to enter. But eventually that person who was in contact with the player yielded a positive result, forcing the Nets forward to leave the game.
This confirms the problematic of the situation. Durant will enter the NBA contact tracing protocol, and it will be necessary to determine how long he will have to spend without being able to jump to the court.
Minutes after the outcome, ESPN reported that Durant will not be able to travel to Philadelphia to be present in one of the most anticipated games of the weekend, when the Nets and 76ers meet in Pennsylvania. Although the rest of the team is enabled to do so.
The absence of Durant has forced the Nets to start with Bruce Brown in his place, against a Raptors team that after a poor start to the season has seven victories in its last eleven games.
The Nets start Friday tied with the Milwaukee Bucks two games behind the Philadelphia 76ers, leaders of the Eastern Conference.
NBA health and safety protocols do not distinguish between players who have already had coronavirus and those who have not. If contact tracing is enabled, players are disabled as a precaution against the spread of the virus. The Nets have been dodging suspensions, since despite having had several players in the protocol, they still have not had to postpone any game.
