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Kevin Durant returned to the court for the first time in 18 months Sunday night and was pleased to take that step out of the way.
In his first preseason appearance with the Brooklyn Nets, Durant scored 15 points in 24 minutes. He had not played since his right Achilles tendon ruptured in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals as a member of the Golden State Warriors on June 10, 2019.
“It felt great, you know, to get back into the rut and get back on the court and feel like a player again,” Durant said after Brooklyn’s 119-114 home win over the Washington Wizards. “I didn’t think I played very well. I felt like I had some solid moments. “
The 32-year-old Durant made 5 of 12 shots and collected three rebounds and three assists.
Perhaps most surprising is that the 10-time All-Star who entered the NBA in 2007 was struck by a case of nerves before the competition that would not otherwise make sense.
“I was anxious, nervous,” Durant said. “I visualized this moment for so long: nine, 10 months thinking about what I will be like in the next stage of my career. I felt like I was chewing a bit. Especially when COVID came along, he was very frustrated. I didn’t see when the season would start in the future. So I was just going through that. Going through this felt solid and I have to keep building it. “
New Nets coach Steve Nash said he was impressed with how far Durant has come.
“It’s remarkable that he’s at the level he’s at,” Nash said of Durant. “It’s amazing. This is an injury that very few people have beaten, so to speak. So for him to be in this position, he has done everything we could have asked.”
Durant is a two-time NBA champion and won his only Most Valuable Player award in 2013-14 as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He has averaged 27 points and 7.1 rebounds in 12 seasons (849 games) with the Seattle SuperSonics, Thunder and Warriors.
He has led the NBA in scoring four times, most recently in 2013-14 with the Thunder, when he posted a career-high 32 points per game.
He left the Warriors in the summer of 2019 and received a four-year, $ 164 million free agent contract from the Nets in a sign-and-trade deal.
—Field-level media
