Kevin Durant Expected To Return This Week For Brooklyn Nets

Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant is expected to return this week for the Brooklyn Nets, but it may not be until Thursday’s game with the Miami Heat.

Nets coach Steve Nash told reporters following the team’s 126-123 victory over the reigning NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks in which Kyrie Irving poured in 38 points that Durant likely won’t play Monday or Tuesday in the home-and-home vs. the Toronto Raptors.

Durant has been out since mid-January with a left MCL sprain.

“Kevin Durant’s return is imminent to Brooklyn,” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said Saturday on ABC. “It could be Monday, Tuesday — they play Toronto back to back — Thursday against the Heat. But essentially, it’s this — it’s Kevin Durant waking up one morning, telling Brooklyn, ‘I am ready to play,’ and, ‘I feel ready.’ He has looked terrific in practice. The expectation is he’s going to play this week.”

Nash previously said Durant — and the Nets other injured players — need “a number of high-intensity workouts” before returning to game action, and that involves “playing at full capacity three times.” He said Saturday that Durant has done it twice so far.

As for Ben Simmons, who was acquired in the blockbuster trade for James Harden at the deadline, he remains out with “return to competition reconditioning” after having not played all season with the Philadelphia 76ers due to mental health issues.

“Now, Ben Simmons — listen, he won’t be back this week. And you look at 12 days away from that March 10 date that everyone in the league is looking at in Philadelphia, Nets-Sixers. I know this — that won’t be Ben Simmons’ debut. They would not put him in that game as a first game. So he comes back just prior or perhaps just after. But his return is going to come on the heels of Durant.

Asked recently he was in a good “head space” to play, Nash said of Simmons, “I think it’s unfair for me to talk about Ben’s head space. All I can say is we’re excited to have him. Getting him back to activity after suc ha long layoff where he wasn’t around a group, this is a period we really want to access.”

As for Joe Harris (ankle), he “is a bigger question for the Nets,” Wojnarowski said. “That left ankle, they’re trying to avoid having another procedure on it, which would be season-ending. He is back with the team playing, trying to see if he can play through the pain on this.”

The Nets are 32-29 and the No. 8 seed in the East.