Nets Working "Behind The Scenes" To Lessen Durant's Load

Kevin Durant is continuing to put the Brooklyn Nets on his back, playing nearly 40 minutes a night. Needless to say, head coach Jacque Vaughn feels that's "not ideal." He says the team, "behind the scenes", is looking at ways to alleviate the load on its leading scorer. 

"While we're in win-now mode, win today's game, we are behind the scenes talking about what the stretch looks like beyond tomorrow and beyond the next day,"Vaughn told Chris Milholen of si.com. "So it is on our minds. We'll map out some time where we'll save a shootaround and maybe not have it. So be strategic that way but ideally, he wouldn't be playing this amount of minutes this early, for sure.”

Durant is averaging 30 points a game, 6th in the NBA, and in fact has five straight games of 30-5-5 (30+ points, 5+ rebounds, 5+ assists). And despite playing a league-leading 36.7 minutes a night to do it, KD insists he's chill about it all.

"I'm just playing carefree basketball," said Durant on his run of 30-point games and extremely heavy workload. "I mean, I think that's the best way to play."

The Nets hope that the impending return of TJ Warren will help take some of the scoring burden off Durant, but after two years away from the court it will take Warren some time to ramp up, so not much should be expected just yet.

In the meantime, the Nets will keep churning those "behind the scenes" machinations to try to get KD some rest. 

Photo: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports