Brooklyn Nets: Would a Kevin Durant return this season make sense?

Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks recently remarked that Kevin Durant could be ready to go if this season continues. Would it make sense?

Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant was widely expected to miss the entire 2019-20 season after suffering a torn Achilles injury in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals.

However, with the coronavirus suspending the season but potentially resuming in July or August, that will obviously allow more time for Durant to recover from an injury that usually requires about nine months to recover.

Nets General Manager Sean Marks recently left the door open for Durant to return to action if this season were to resume after he and KD’s business partner, Rich Kleiman, repeatedly insisted that a return to play wasn’t spoken about.

"“That’s a $110 million question,” Marks said. “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.”"

Marks is basically sending the message that KD will return when he wants to, but in clips that went viral on social media, Durant definitely looked like he was getting back to being himself on the court and a return to action could be imminent.

It’s always good to see an athlete regain their athleticism when they’re making their way back from injury. However, I’m not so sure if this should mean that Durant should start playing again once the season resumes.

Durant would basically be returning right around playoff time when stakes are at their highest, so that would require him to play with the utmost intensity immediately and wouldn’t allow him to ease back into play.

Add in the fact that the chemistry between him and the rest of the team isn’t there yet, so it would be very tough to beat a team like the Toronto Raptors, who they’re currently scheduled to face in the playoffs.

A huge pro to a Durant return could be to see whether he and Kyrie Irving (assuming he returns as well) would mesh well with the other important pieces such as Spencer Dinwiddie, Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen, and if they don’t, then the Nets could accelerate their push for a third star such as Bradley Beal.

However, the smart play still remains to keep Durant and Irving out for the remainder of this season, and then bring them back when they’re fully recovered for training camp next season. This will allow them to ease back into action and build chemistry with their teammates.

As anxious as we all are to see Kevin Durant finally put on the black-and-white jersey for the first time, keep in mind that this was always about the 2020-21 season, and it makes even more sense to integrate the two-time Finals MVP into the fold next season when the head coach will be decided.