Kevin Durant ripped the NBA for jerking him around during Friday’s Brooklyn Nets-Toronto Raptors game.
Durant was not allowed to start the game due to contact tracing rules. He was later cleared to play in the game and entered in the first quarter. However, Durant was pulled in the third quarter and removed from the game.
The NBA explained that Durant was tested three times in 24 hours, including twice on Friday, and all tests were negative. He was in contact tracing and originally not allowed to play because a person he was around on Friday was tested for COVID. The person’s test originally was inconclusive, which is why Durant was cleared to play. But when the associate’s test came up positive, Durant was pulled.
Durant ripped the league for the seemingly odd policy that allowed him to play but then pulled him.
“Yo @nba, your fans aren’t dumb!!!! You can’t fool em with your Wack a– PR tactics.. #FREE7,” Durant tweeted (edited for profanity).
Durant’s frustration is understandable; the league had no consistency for its dealings with KD, which was confusing. He thought he wasn’t playing, then he was cleared, and then he was pulled. How could he not be mad?
The NBA is operating under a “negative until confirmed positive” assumption. And that’s what threw so many people off, and why it feels inconsistent for the league to claim it is operating “out of an abundance of caution.” If they were being abundantly cautious, Durant wouldn’t have been cleared to play while the test result for the close contact was inconclusive.
