Sean Marks Doesn’t Rule Out A Return By Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant‘s manager and business partner Rich Kleiman has suggested Durant won’t try to return if the season resumes, but Nets general manager Sean Marks wasn’t as definite when asked about the possibility by Grant Chapman of Newshub in New Zealand.

“That’s a $110MM question,” Marks responded. “In all seriousness, we’ve tried not to talk about his timeline a lot. He knows his body better than anybody. Our performance team and training staff have done a tremendous job getting him to this point, but I just don’t know how coming out of this pandemic will affect anybody, let alone Kevin.

“When you’ve got enough invested in a player like Kevin, we’re never going to push him to come back. When the timing is right, he’ll be 100 percent when he gets on the court. I can tell you this though — before the pandemic, he looked like Kevin Durant and that’s a good thing.”

When Durant signed with the Nets last summer, it was generally accepted that he would sit out the entire season while recovering from Achilles surgery. However, the NBA’s hiatus may present an unexpected opportunity. Durant was participating in three-on-three scrimmages before the league was locked down and was impressing teammates with his play.

Durant is approaching the 11-month mark since suffering the injury in Game 5 of the NBA Finals and could provide a much-needed playoff boost to Brooklyn, which currently occupies the seventh seed in the East.

Also in the interview, Marks, a native New Zealander, said he remains optimistic that the league can finish its season, adding that the Nets’ staff is preparing for multiple scenarios.

“It’s not like we’re not throwing stuff on the wall, because we are,” he said. “We’re throwing stuff up there like, ‘what if this happens, what if that happens… what are the circumstances we would need to return’. Nobody quite knows what the new normal will be. The new normal we were predicting a week ago is vastly different to the one we’re predicting right now … things are changing so quickly.”

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