Jay Williams doesn’t think it’s the smartest idea, but his buddy Kevin Durant has defied the odds before.
Nets GM Sean Marks finally left the door open to Durant returning from surgery to repair an Achilles tendon tear in time for a potential playoff tournament in July if the NBA season resumes.
“That’s a $110 million question,” Marks said Sunday. “I just don’t know how coming out of this pandemic will affect anybody, let alone Kevin.’’
Williams, an ESPN NBA analyst who also hosts “The Boardroom” with Durant, feels it could be too risky, going from one year off to a playoff cauldron.
Durant had progressed to three-on-three games when the coronavirus pandemic shut the league down. He had been resigned to returning next October for the 2020-21 season. Now Durant could be getting antsy since the 2020-21 season may not commence until Dec. 25.
Williams is concerned the playoff event would feature few off days. The Nets are in seventh place in the East and Kyrie Irving (shoulder surgery) is done for the season.
“I think everybody’s antsy,’’ Williams told The Post. “As it relates to Kevin, it depends on the timetable of those games and how condensed it is. It’s one thing to come back and start the beginning of next season where there’s time and space between games and [you can] keep your body ramped up the right way. But someone coming back off an injury and go right into a playoff scenario, I don’t think it’s feasible or fair on Kevin himself. But Kevin is his own man. He’ll do what he wants to do.”
The good news is Durant was in excellent condition in March, dazzling in those informal three-on-three matches.
“He is working out and feels great which is really good to hear,’’ Williams said. “One of the best players in the world to feel he can go is incredible. The question is the [playoff] timetable that nobody knows.
“It’s about how long will they train? How long will he play five-on-five with physical contact?. There’s a lot of questions that need to be answered. Someone can have great individual workouts and pickup games but until you play in full live-game situation with teammates, I don’t know the answer.’’
Reports suggest a three-week training camp would be staged. Teams in cities where the lockdown is over can open their training facilities to players for individual workouts beginning Friday. The Nets and Knicks play in a state where the lockdown isn’t scheduled to be over until May 15 but the lockdown “downstate’’ is expected to last longer.
Knicks radio analyst Brendan Brown said on MSG Network a three-week camp is long considering the game plans are already in place. Not so, says Williams.
“They’ve been sitting on their butts,’’ said Williams, the former Duke star of NBA players “I felt out of tune with my body when I took two days off, let alone two months. Conditioning needs to get back to a high level so they’re not injured. If you shortened it, you jeopardize players to putting them at risk for injury for next season.’’