Kevin Durant to miss a week due to NBA’s COVID-19 protocol

The Brooklyn Nets star is set to enter a seven-day quarantine due to the NBA’s COVID-19 protocol.

The Brooklyn Nets are a day removed from a brutal 123-122 loss to the Washington Wizards, one in which both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving missed potential game-winning shots in the final seconds of regulation. One day later, the Nets find out that they’ll be without one of their stars for the next week.

According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Durant is expected to go into seven-day quarantine due to NBA contact tracing or exposure to COVID-19. That means he’ll miss Brooklyn’s next four games against the Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers, Memphis Grizzlies and Oklahoma City Thunder.

Durant had tested positive for COVID-19 back in March

Back in March when the pandemic first surged in North America, Durant announced he was one of four Nets players that had tested positive for COVID-19.

Durant is participating in his first season with the Nets after sitting out the entire 2019-20 season to recover from a ruptured Achilles in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals. He’s been on a surge ever since scoring 22 points in the Nets’ blowout victory over the Golden State Warriors on NBA’s Opening Night. In fact, that has been the lowest point total Durant has recorded in a game this season.

Through six games, Durant has averaged 28.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 34.2 minutes, all while shooting 51.4-percent from the field and 45.5-percent form the three-point line.

Durant’s absence will hurt the Nets, as they already lost Spencer Dinwiddie for the season due to a partial ACL tear. That means it will be the Kyrie Irving show for Brooklyn’s next four games, where they’ll look to end their two-game skid.