Kevin spoke about his return to the court on Thursday and how difficult it was to sit while the Nets were struggling. (1:35)
Kevin Durant says he will play against the Miami Heat on Thursday after missing a month and a half with a left knee injury.
The Nets went 5-16 in his absence, but will get a huge lift from his return.
After Thursday's shootaround, Durant said he felt grateful for the opportunity to play. Being out and not being around the team makes me sad. I felt bad that I wasn't able to help and contribute to turn things around. Tonight is an opportunity for me to inject something into this team and hopefully it will provide some good results.
The Nets have slid to eighth place in the Eastern Conference because of the trade of James Harden and the absence of Kyrie Irving. Ben Simmons has yet to play as he continues to deal with a back issue. Irving is not allowed to play at home games because of the New York City vaccine mandate. The Nets find themselves in a precarious position in the race for the playoffs.
I don't see myself as a savior, but I know what I can do and how much I can help the team. I try to be a good teammate and help out when I can. I know what I bring to the table and try to do it to the best of my abilities.
It has been a steep decline for a team that had been at or near the top of the table before the injury to KD.
He said it was difficult because he couldn't calm the noise with his play. It was eating at me that I couldn't go out there and perform to take some pressure off the guys and the organization, but I'm proud of how everybody just kept pushing and kept coming to work. Anything can happen in this business. We all have to be prepared and still come to work every day, and I like how we did that.
As far as any potential minutes restriction goes on Thursday, there's nothing set in stone, but he expects to stay in contact with the Nets training staff throughout the game as they monitor his return.
After the All-Star break, KD returned to practice and has been around the team and on the bench a lot over the last couple of weeks. With 19 regular-season games remaining, his availability will give the struggling group an emotional lift.
I felt some pain in my knee, but I didn't want to play through it. I know I can help, but I didn't want to hurt myself even more by trying to be a superhero, just to be out there. I was able to get some time to work on my body and the training staff did a great job of working with me every day, and now I am here and just see where I am at after this game.
Before the playoffs begin next month, Kevin is confident that his team can get back on track.
If we don't put the work in, nothing will happen. I can speak about how confident we are and how things look, but we have to go out and practice and play the game in order to really see who we are.
We are close to it. There are under 20 games left in the season, but that is the situation we are in. So what? We have to figure it out.
The narrative surrounding the team has not been good at the moment as they have struggled to put wins together without him.
Every day, everybody is telling us how far we are dropping and where we may end up. We know that each day is important so we just keep plugging away.
As the Nets try to make a push down the stretch, Durant has been pleased by what he has seen from Simmons in the individual work he has been able to watch. Simmons has yet to be cleared for practice and is dealing with a back issue, so it's not clear when he will be able to debut for the Nets.
He seems excited to play and he needs to be patient with his health. When guys are injured, their situations is difficult to gauge, but he is walking around excited and being part of the team every single day and once he is ready to play we will welcome him with open arms.
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