On Thursday, the NBA Board of Governors voted to approve a 22-team league restart plan in Orlando, Florida according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The top eight teams from both the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference will travel to Florida, plus the Portland Trailblazers, New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Phoneix Suns, and the Washington Wizards.
Each team will play eight games to conclude the 2019-2020 regular season. From there on, a normal playoff schedule will be in place, with the top eight teams from each conference facing off.
Within the top eight teams of the Eastern Conference is the Brooklyn Nets. This offseason, Brooklyn signed two major free agents in former Duke star Kyrie Irving and former Longhorn Kevin Durant.
However, nobody has seen Durant in a Nets jersey yet, as he has been sidelined with a torn Achilles since Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals with the Golden State Warriors. The original plan was to have him sit out the entire season and return for the 2020-2021 season.
Now, with a nearly four-month layoff due to COVID-19, should Kevin Durant return to the Nets and attempt to help them win a championship this season?
As thing stand, Brooklyn is in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, sitting at a record of 30-34. They are six games behind the sixth-placed Philadelphia 76ers and six games ahead of the ninth-place Washington Wizards. The Nets are more or less a lock for the playoffs at this point.
Assuming all seeding remains the same after eight games, their first-round opponent would be the defending NBA Champions, the Toronto Raptors.
Durant is not the only injured star for Brooklyn, as Kyrie Irving underwent season-ending shoulder surgery back in February. As of now, the Nets are without two players they are paying a combined $70 million.
If Irving was healthy and Brooklyn was seen as a competitive force throughout the season, Durant could have considered coming back for the playoffs.
Without the superstar point guard, there is no point in rushing back, especially as a 7-seed. Assuming everything goes well, Durant should be able to be ready to go for the 2020-2021 NBA season.
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