BEVERLY HILLS, February 15, (THEWILL) – The New York City-based Brooklyn Nets has announced that star forward Kevin Durant has been sidelined by a left hamstring strain. The injury will force him to be unavailable for a string of matches including today’s game against the Sacramento Kings and tomorrow’s game against the Phoenix Suns.
Fortunately for the Nets this season, Durant has not shown any lingering issues from the ruptured Achilles injury that forced him to sit out the entire 2019-20 season.
The 32-year-old has made 19 appearances in 19 games, averaging 29.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. The 10-time All-Star was shooting 52.4 percent from the field, including a career-high 43.4 percent behind the arc before the hamstring injury.
There are high expectations for the Nets this season. This comes more from the January 14 trade that brought in Shooting guard James Harden from the Houston Rockets as reported by THEWILL. The inclusion of Harden has improved their scoring but there have been some bumps along the way for the team especially in defense.
Their offence trio of Durant, Harden and Kyrie Irving make them a difficult side to hold and they will not need to be tight defensively to get results as they have shown so far. But, short one of those three for any length of time, removes from the efficiency of the team and immediately spells trouble.
Before yesterday’s announcement of his strain, Durant fired the Brooklyn Nets to a 134-117 victory against former team the Golden State Warriors, scoring 20 points, on his first game after missing the past three games while in quarantine.
The forward spent three seasons as a member of the Warriors before leaving in 2019.
The Nets believe Durant should not be out for a lengthy spell but until he can come back to court, head coach Steve Nash will likely turn to Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, the French 25-year-old, for more minutes at small forward in his place.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
