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Update: Durant is now listed as questionable and Kyrie Irving has an injured finger.
The Sixers seem like they don’t have to deal with Kevin Durant tonight after the Nets superstar had the strangest experience yet in this bizarre NBA season on Friday.
Minutes before the nationally televised Nets-Raptors game was reported, Durant was pulled from starting lineup because he came into contact earlier today with someone who had recorded a non-COVID test. conclusive. While the Nets and the NBA waited for word of that test, Durant stepped out.
Then he registered towards the end of the first quarter, the first time in his career that he came off the bench.
Early in the third quarter, Durant picked up his fifth foul, hitting Kyle Lowry as the two chased a loose ball. Not wanting his best player to be in trouble with 21 minutes of play, Nets head coach Steve Nash challenged the game and won. Durant came back to four fouls, but moments later a Nets staff member approached him on the bench and told him the league had intervened and he should miss the rest of the game.
Durant was not happy, shaking his head and later pulling a some scathing tweets.
“Durant was initially excluded from the game while this result was under consideration,” the league said in a statement Friday night. “Under league health and safety protocols, we do not require a player to be quarantined until close contact has a confirmed positive test.”
Durant didn’t make it to Philly for tonight’s game and could end up running out of time. He had the coronavirus last March and, according to ESPN, he recorded antibodies again in January when he missed three games because of contact tracing.
“I just don’t understand what he couldn’t play, then he came on the pitch and then they took him back,” said teammate James Harden. “There’s just a lot going on. Too much going on. It’s a little overwhelming. We’re in the middle of a tough game, and these games are going to add up, especially if we’re talking about the playoff standings. . It’s overwhelming. It’s frustrating.
“He feels the same. Especially with him who already has it and we are tested every day. He was negative. So I don’t understand what the problem is. The game should have been postponed, I feel like . If we’re talking about contact tracing, he was around all of us. So I don’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to play, then allowed to play, then kicked off the pitch. If he was, we should postponed the game. “
Sixers-Nets is scheduled for 8 p.m. The Sixers are looking to bounce back from a missed opportunity against a Blazers team Thursday without Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum.
Joel Embiid and Seth Curry are questionable to play, while Ben Simmons is likely after sitting down with calf strain on Thursday.
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