Kevin Durant was pulled from the floor in the third quarter last night, as part of the league’s contact tracing protocols.

Durant was understandably annoyed by how it was handled; being allowed to play half the game before being sent to the locker room set him off on a Twitter rant against the league’s protocols and messaging surrounding contact tracing.

As our Matt Clapp wrote last night:

So why the heck was Durant allowed to enter the game (or even the bench) to begin with? And what changed between the first and third quarter to force his exit?

The NBA released a statement saying that Durant tested negative three times in the last 24 hours, but somebody he interacted with earlier in the day had an inconclusive test shortly before the game. The league says that Durant was initially held out while that was being reviewed, but added that they don’t require a player to be quarantined until a close contact has a confirmed positive test. Well, that person indeed returned a positive test during the game, leading to Durant being pulled and put back into contact tracing.

Tonight, Nets coach Steve Nash announced Durant would be away from the team until next Friday, meaning he’ll miss three games:

Further word came as to what happened, and while how it was handled last night was certainly not ideal, it’s hard to argue that Durant shouldn’t be in quarantine right now:

Durant has had Covid-19 in the past already, and continues to test negative. That’s good! But science at this point isn’t very clear on whether immune people can carry or pass on the virus, or even if reinfection is possible, hence the seven-day quarantine. That Durant could have avoided this by wearing a mask while in the car with someone else is a pretty great example of why, you know, masks should be on, whether you think it’s overkill or not.

About Jay Rigdon

Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.