Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant is not returning for the 2019-20 NBA season, despite the playoffs being scheduled to end as late as October. The All-Star confirmed the decision to ESPN, Friday.
"It's just best for me to wait," Durant said. "I don't think I'm ready to play that type of intensity right now in the next month. It gives me more time to get ready for next season and the rest of my career. My season is over. I don't plan on playing at all. We decided last summer when it first happened that I was just going to wait until the following season.
"I had no plans of playing at all this season."
Durant, while still nursing a torn Achilles tendon, is fully recovered from COVID-19. He tested positive for the virus in March.
"I was shocked," he said, regarding testing positive. "And then I was curious. I wanted to know what it meant. What is the virus about? I started to get information about it more and more. It calmed me down ... I was just more curious to what I was dealing with and how I could fight it myself."
The NBA season will return on July 31.
[Via]
