Steve Nash Reacts To The Kevin Durant Injury News

The Brooklyn Nets learned over the weekend that they’ll be without Kevin Durant for the next few weeks. The superstar forward suffered a sprained MCL in his left knee during Saturday’s win over the New Orleans Pelicans, which will sideline him for at least the next month.

Although the Nets will face an uphill battle without Durant on the floor, Steve Nash is doing his best to keep up team morale.

Brooklyn hasn’t had the chance to be at full strength for most of the 2021-22 season thus far. The Nets’ “big three” of Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving have played just two games together this year because of a combination of injuries, COVID-19 protocols, and Irving’s vaccination status, which has prevented him from playing home games in Brooklyn.

Nash was asked about his stars’ lack of playing time together ahead of Monday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He made clear that the Nets can’t afford the feel sorry for themselves and that the team has to keep plugging away, with or without Durant on the floor.

“If they get a bunch of games together, great,” Nash said, per ESPN’s Nick Friedell. “If they don’t, they don’t. And we’ll be playing the cards we’re dealt so it’s a little bit out of our hands. We just have to do the best we can. We can’t cry about it. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We got to keep building, see what we can learn, how we can grow during this period of Kevin being out and Joe [Harris] being out and how we can continue to move this thing forward so when they do come back, we’re in a better place — and he can rejoin us in a place where we can feel better about where we are in that part of the season.”

Nash recognized that Nets will miss Durant’s league-leading 29.3 points per game, but that’s not all the team will miss. He also pointed out how Brooklyn will need to find a way to make up for the loss of size and rim protection that Durant has given the group this season.

“Obviously we lose a scorer of the highest caliber,” Nash said, per Friedell. “But we also lose size and defense. … He’s such a well-rounded player, does so many things at a high level, plus he gives us small-team size on the perimeter — there’s so many ways that his absence will be felt. Having said that, it’s a great opportunity for guys, and it’s an opportunity for our team to grow. We can’t rely on him in ways that we could and we have to find ways and solutions to be competitive without him.”

Nash said the Nets expect to be without Durant for “the next few weeks.” Brooklyn’s official injury update over the weekend revealed that the 33-year-old forward will be re-evaluated in 4-6 weeks.

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