Nets forward Kevin Durant, named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week earlier Monday, is putting up MVP-type numbers while playing through a sore right shoulder, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Durant admitted on Sunday that he’s been getting some treatment on the shoulder.
“He’s got a little tweak,” Nets head coach Steve Nash said. “But the ball still goes in the hole, so I think he’s hanging in there. I don’t think it’s the type of thing that we expect to get worse so he’s kind of playing through it, so it’s not terrible.”
Meanwhile, Durant’s teammate Joe Harris is dealing with a left ankle sprain, Youngmisuk says in the same story. Harris left Sunday’s game due to the injury, but Nash didn’t have an update on it after the game, so the severity remains unclear. Harris has, at least, been ruled out of the Nets’ Tuesday contest vs. Golden State, tweets Youngmisuk.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- According to Celtics head coach Ime Udoka, Jaylen Brown (hamstring) went through on-court work on Sunday, but it was determined that isn’t ready to return to action yet (Twitter link via Chris Grenham of Forbes). Brown will remain on the shelf for Monday’s game in Cleveland, with the C’s hoping he can make it back later in the week.
- Veteran forward Rudy Gay was among the players briefly assigned to the G League by the Jazz on Sunday, Utah announced (via Twitter). Gay, who is recovering from offseason heel surgery, was back with Utah on Monday and went through practice in full, although head coach Quin Snyder remains reluctant to commit to a return date, tweets Tony Jones of The Athletic.
- Heat forward Markieff Morris (neck/whiplash) will miss a fourth consecutive game on Monday night, as Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel tweets. Morris has been sidelined since his on-court altercation with Nikola Jokic last Monday.
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