Kevin Durant can send a strong message in his return against the Miami Heat.
Over the past month and a half, the Brooklyn Nets have suffered mightily from the loss of Kevin Durant. Over that span, the Nets went 5-16 and fell in the standings from second to 8th in the East.
However, with the final stretch of regular-season games on the horizon, Durant is set to return from injury Thursday night against the Miami Heat. Not only will Durant get the opportunity to right the ship for Brooklyn in his return, but he’ll also have the opportunity to send a strong message – to the Heat, first, but also to the rest of the Eastern Conference.
As it currently stands, the Nets, as the 8th seed, are slated to face off against the top-seeded Miami Heat in a potential first-round playoff series. The Nets still don’t know if they’ll have Ben Simmons at that point in the season, but the hope is that they’ll have both Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Against the Heat Thursday night, the Nets could give the Heat an early warning shot of what they could possibly expect in a potential playoff series. Even though a lot can change in the standings between now and the start of the playoffs, we will get an early look of what a potential series between the Nets and Heat can look like.
It’s difficult to try and project what we can expect to see from Durant in his return; there’s no indication that he’ll be on a minute-restriction but you have to expect that the Nets will likely bring him along slowly and won’t push him early on.
The last thing that the Nets want is for Durant to reinjure himself before the playoffs. Either way, Thursday night should provide some excitment and theater for NBA fans. And it all centers around Durant’s return against the “best team in the East.”