NBA: misunderstanding around Kevin Durant, who participated in a match while he was in contact with Covid

A somewhat surreal scene. Brooklyn star Kevin Durant, barred from starting Friday’s game against Toronto because he was subject to a Covid-19 protocol traceability investigation, was then cleared to play by the NBA before being definitely sent back to the locker room.

A rare imbroglio, consequence of the delicate context of the coronavirus pandemic which continues to rage in the United States, occurred within the framework of this meeting finally lost by the Nets (123-117).

The North American Basketball League, whose protocol is that a player with a potential contact case, and therefore subject to a traceability investigation, to stay away from the team, decided before the kickoff sending Durant couldn’t start this match.

Officially contact case in the middle of a match

A few minutes later, she nevertheless allowed him to come into play at the end of the first quarter. And twist, in the 3rd quarter, the latter was forced to leave the floor of the Barclays Center. He learned this decision, amazed, as he was resting not far from his team’s bench and returned to the locker room, throwing a bottle of water on the ground in frustration.

The NBA ended up explaining the context that led it to make these contrary decisions. According to his spokesperson, Tim Frank, “Durant, tested negative three times in the last 24 hours including two on Friday, interacted in the afternoon with a person who received an inconclusive test result shortly before the game” .

“So he was initially kept out, while the result of that test was being reviewed, because according to league health and safety protocols, we don’t require a player to be quarantined before a close contact has a confirmed positive test, ”added Tim Frank. Which doesn’t explain why Durant was nevertheless allowed to play, given the risk involved.

” It’s frustrating “

But during the match “the result of the test taken by the person with whom Durant interacted came back positive […] Out of caution, Durant did not finish the game, ”Frank concluded, adding that the league was now looking to determine how close the Brooklyn player has been with the person in question.

If the coach Steve Nash, who will have to do without the services of his star Saturday in Philadelphia, did not hide his circumspection, deploring that “it’s hard to lose Kevin Durant twice in the same game”, the latter does not not mad on social networks, asking for his “release” on Twitter (“Free me”) and criticizing the explanations of the NBA.

“It’s frustrating, we follow the protocols, we get tested every day, so I don’t understand what happened. He couldn’t play, then he could, then they took him back, ”railed his teammate James Harden, wondering how the match could have taken place given that Durant and the other players of the team shared the same locker room before the match.