The Brooklyn Nets are currently atop the Eastern Conference with a record of 15-6. Former NBA MVP Kevin Durant has done a lot of the heavy lifting thus far as the Nets have been without starting point guard Kyrie Irving and James Harden needed some time to get right from his hamstring injury.
As a result, Durant has had a lot on his shoulders. But, if the Nets had it their way, they would be playing him fewer minutes.
Right now Durant is on pace to play the most minutes in a regular-season since the 2015-16 campaign with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He averaged 35.8 minutes per game that season, which is the same amount of time he is spending per game on the court this season.
That puts Durant at ninth on the minutes per game list in the NBA, which is something that has the Nets concerned. At 33-years old and in his first full season off of an Achilles tear that cost him the 2019-20 campaign, Brooklyn would prefer he played fewer minutes. Unfortunately, things don’t always work out as hoped.
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Head coach Steve Nash discussed Durant’s workload earlier in the week. While the team is hopeful that the opportunity arises for his minutes to be scaled back, it likely won’t be any time soon with the players currently sidelined.
“It’s not ideal to have him have such a burden, but I don’t know what options we have other than to play him less and lose more,” Nash said Tuesday. “He’s a great player, and we’re down a great player (Kyrie Irving) and a really good player (Joe Harris) and a few others (Nic Claxton — ill). So I don’t know if we have the luxury right now. Hopefully, the season gives us opportunities.”
No one knows when Irving will return to the court. The Brooklyn Nets decided to be a part of the team you needed to be eligible full-time. Until Irving gets his COVID-19 vaccination, he will remain ineligible unless the mandate in New York City is changed.
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Joe Harris recently underwent surgery on his left ankle that will keep him sidelined for four to eight weeks. Out through the New Year, Brooklyn will be short-handed on the wing, making it even tougher to find chances for Kevin Durant to get some rest.
But, if it were up to him, he would play all the time. Durant has no problem playing big minutes as he just loves basketball.
“I’m a basketball player. I enjoy to play. I wanna play for 48 minutes. That’s just what it is,” he said after Tuesday’s win over the Knicks. “…. I like to play, and if I can convince coach to play me the whole second half sometimes and put me in earlier in quarters, I’m gonna do it.
“It don’t matter. My basketball life is not that long, so I’m gonna get the most out of it.”
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Kevin Durant sat out one game this season and the Brooklyn Nets barely squeezed by the Orlando Magic, defeating them by two points. Without Durant in the lineup, the Nets will essentially be conceding a loss if they are facing a halfway decent team.
If they continue building their lead in the conference, that may be something they can afford to do. But for now, given how shorthanded they are in certain areas, Kevin Durant will likely continue with his heavy workload.
