Kevin Durant ‘Anxious, Nervous’ In First Game Back From Achilles

Kevin Durant scored 15 points on 12 shots from the floor in his first game with the Brooklyn Nets and his first since rupturing his Achilles in June 2019.

“I was anxious, nervous,” Durant said afterward. “I visualized this moment for so long — nine, 10 months of thinking about how it would be, this next phase of my career. I felt like I was chomping at the bit, especially once COVID hit because I didn’t see a future — when the season was going to start in the future. I was going through it.

“So to go through this felt solid.”

“When you have that type of injury,” Steve Nash said of Durant after the game, “it is kind of remarkable he’s at the level he’s at.

“It’s amazing. This is an injury that very few people have conquered, so to speak. … It’s beautiful to see him back on the basketball court. I think the world missed him — I certainly did.”