Nets star Kevin Durant will miss Brooklyn’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday as he continues to deal with a left thigh contusion.
Nets big men Nic Claxton and Reggie Perry have been placed in the league’s health and safety protocols and will also miss Tuesday’s game in New Orleans.
The Nets have ruled out a total of seven players for Tuesday’s game: Durant, Claxton, Perry, James Harden (hamstring), Tyler Johnson (knee soreness), Chris Chiozza (fractured right hand) and Spencer Dinwiddie (ACL).
Durant played four minutes in the Nets’ 109-107 loss to the Miami Heat on Sunday before being forced to leave early in the first quarter. He appeared to get tangled with Miami’s Trevor Ariza when he drove toward the basket for a layup.
After the game, Nets coach Steve Nash said Durant was “sore” and that the team would reevaluate him in the morning before determining his status for Tuesday. Durant remains on the Nets’ road trip.
Durant has missed 24 of Brooklyn’s 57 games this season. He was placed in the league’s health and safety protocols twice and missed just shy of a week in both instances. Then, Durant missed nearly two months with a right hamstring strain. He had just returned from that injury on April 8 and was working his way back to playing his normal minutes.
Harden, who has missed two weeks with a right hamstring strain, continues to work toward a return.
“We keep inching — without incident — we keep inching closer to his return,” Nash said Sunday.
