Kevin Durant Injury Return: NBA Star Won't Rule Out Playing In 2019-2020 Season For Brooklyn Nets

When Kevin Durant tore his Achilles in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals, it was assumed that the superstar would miss the entirety of the 2019-2020 season. In his first interview since leaving the Golden State Warriors for the Brooklyn Nets in free agency, Durant wasn’t ready to completely rule out making a return in his first year with his new team.

“I don’t know,” Durant told Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes. “Just like I didn’t know I was going to get hurt. I don’t know. We’ll see. I’m early in the process. So I’m grinding every day. I’m not even trying to think that far. That’s not going to do me any good. So I just try to focus on what I can control right now, second by second. Who knows? We’ll see.

“But once you get to learn your body a little bit more and you realize what this injury is, you know, it’s going to take a lot of work for me to get back to full strength. I was at a point where mentally and physically, my body and mind had met at the right point and I had reached a level that I never reached before. My mind is still there, now my body just has to catch up. Once that does, I’ll be fine.”

Durant missed a month after suffering a calf strain in Game 5 of the conference semifinals against the Houston Rockets. He returned in Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors with Golden State trailing 3-1 in the series, though it only took 12 minutes for the two-time finals MVP to suffer the devastating injury.

Brooklyn offered Durant a max contract on June 30, knowing that he likely wouldn’t be able to play with the team next season. The Nets landed Durant and Kyrie Irving, making them one of the biggest winners of the offseason.

Durant will earn a $37.199 million salary next season. He’ll be under contract for two more years after 2019-2020 before he has to decide if he wants to pick up his $42.778 million option for the 2022-2023 season.