The indefinite suspension of the NBA season has seemingly opened the door for Kevin Durant to potentially return at some point when play resumes, but Rich Kleiman is not optimistic about it.
Appearing Monday on ESPN’s “Golic and Wingo,” Kleiman, Durant’s agent and manager, threw some cold water on the idea of a summer return for the former NBA MVP.
“Honestly, [it’s] not very realistic from my standpoint, and not even spoken about,” said Kleiman. “It feels like [Durant playing in 2019-20] clearly was not something that was in the cards prior to all this. And now, I think just like the rest of the world, it’s hard to take anything more than day by day.
“I think Kevin is going to figure out the space he needs to be in to continue to rehab during this time,” Kleiman added. “But even that is hard to answer at this point, with the new kind of rules that were put in place last night.”
Kleiman was referring to the recommendation issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday that events or gatherings for the next eight weeks should have no more than 50 people. That would obviously impact the timeline along which the NBA might be able to resume play.
In context though, some interpreted Kleiman’s response as indicating that too much is up in the air right now to go by anything beyond a day-to-day basis.
I know the quote being pulled from Rich Kleiman's interview with ESPN was that "it's not realistic" KD returns even if season extended. But it's clear w/ entire context Kleiman was just saying too much is up in the air right now and the question is impossible to answer.
— Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) March 16, 2020
Durant ruptured his right Achilles on Jun. 10 in an NBA Finals game as a member of the Golden State Warriors before signing with the Brooklyn Nets in July. He still appears to be affecting team business off the court, but we may not see him actually playing again for a while longer, the opportunity to even play notwithstanding.
