Kevin Durant is latest Net to enter NBA health and safety protocols

Kevin Durant has entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols, meaning he’s returned a positive or inconclusive test. While it’s positive that Durant could “test out” of the protocols with two negative tests 24 hours apart, the greater likelihood is that he will miss the next 10 days worth of games, which would include the NBA’s primetime Christmas Day contest with the Lakers in Los Angeles.

Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania tweeted the new not long before noon Saturday. KD was already out of Saturday night’s Magic game with a sore ankle.

Durant is the eighth Net to enter the protocols. He joins James Harden, James Johnson, DeAndre’ Bembry, Jevon Carter, LaMarcus Aldridge, Bruce Brown and Paul Millsap.

Like all the Nets other than Kyrie Irving, Durant has been vaccinated against COVID. He also tested positive for the virus in the early days of the pandemic back in March 2020. The Nets have declined to say how many and who on the team has received booster shots.

Durant was also in the league’s health and safety protocols last March, missing four games in seven days of quarantine. That, however, was due to close contact with a staffer who later tested positive for the virus. There’s been no information released about the severity of Durant’s encounters with COVID, either then or now.

The Nets will play the Magic, Nuggets, Wizards, Trailblazers, Lakers and Clippers over the next 10 days, the last three on a West Coast swing.

• Kevin Durant becomes 8th Brooklyn Nets player to enter NBA’s health and safety protocols - ESPN
• Kevin Durant eighth Nets player to enter NBA’s COVID-19 protocols - Mark W. Sanchez - New York Post