Nets star Kevin Durant suffered a left thigh contusion in the first quarter of Brooklyn’s 109-107 loss to the Miami Heat on Sunday and was ruled out for the remainder of the game.
Afterward, Nets coach Steve Nash said the former league MVP would be reevaluated Monday morning to determine whether any further testing or imaging is needed.
“He’s sore,” Nash said. “But we don’t know how severe. We’ll see tomorrow how he wakes up and go from there.”
Nash said he was “guessing” the plan would be for Durant to continue with the Nets on their trip to New Orleans, but had not been fully debriefed by Brooklyn’s medical staff when speaking to reporters.
Durant appeared to get tangled with Miami’s Trevor Ariza when he drove toward the basket for a layup in the first quarter. He left the game and was examined by a trainer before heading back to the Nets’ locker room.
Durant exited the game with eight points in just over four minutes. He had yet to miss from the field.
“Any time one of our teammates goes down, any time something like that happens, it’s definitely going to take a hit for us,” Nets guard Kyrie Irving said. “And he’s just gotten back. We just pray that it’s not too serious and he’s able to recover, but it definitely has a hit on our continuity at times.”
Durant, who has had several bouts with injury this season, returned to the Nets on April 8 against after missing nearly two months with a right hamstring strain. He came off the bench in that game.
The Nets continue to be without James Harden, who has missed a week and a half with a right hamstring strain. Harden worked out in Miami on Saturday and is progressing toward a return, Nash said.
The Nets’ Big Three of Durant, Harden and Irving have played just seven games together this season.
“We’ve had plenty of guys out of the lineup. … Nothing new for us,” Nash said.
After Sunday’s game, Jeff Green said that while he hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to Durant, he knows he is “bummed that it’s happened frequently over the last couple of weeks and he just wants to be out there playing.”
“When they do come back,” Green said, “we’ve just got to prepare ourselves for what is going to be the next plans for — whether that’s the next 10 games at the end of the season or come playoffs, so when everybody’s healthy that’s when we’ll look down the road and see what we got to go up against.”
