NBA Scout Says Kevin Durant Isn’t his ‘Vintage’ Self: ‘You Can See Some Regression’

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

An anonymous NBA scout questioned
whether Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant is starting to struggle with
the cumulative toll of his recent injury history.

The Eastern Conference scout discussed
KD’s play with Sam Amick of The Athletic on Saturday after the
12-time All-Star made just 13 of his 41 shots from the field (30.5
percent) over the first two games of the Nets’ first-round playoff
series against the Boston Celtics, both losses:

“To the credit of the referees,
they’re letting them play. It has looked like ’90s NBA playoff
basketball. And then the other element of it to me is Durant. For
one, this guy missed a big chunk of the year with that [MCL injury].
He’s probably not 100 percent. He’s not vintage Durant right now. …
You can see some regression. How much of that is the missed time and
rust and not being in peak form? How much of that is just the natural
decline? We are talking about a guy who just missed a year because of
an Achilles. All of these things to me start to become cumulative.”

This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis.

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