ESPN's Jalen Rose is not so confident that Golden State Warriors superstar Kevin Durant will return in time to suit up for Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors.
The former player turned analyst explained his skepticism of believing a return is near during Thursday's iteration of ESPN's Get Up!:
“I think he's not playing, that's what I think,” said Rose. “You didn't hear ‘I'm feeling a lot better, I'm getting closer to participating, I can't wait to be out there with my guys.'
“He's been out a month, Laura. You don't be out a month and suddenly have on practice against G-League-type competition. And by the way, they don't have to look far for G-League players, they got like four or five of them on their team — that's not the issue. The issue is, is he gonna be able to play against Kawhi Leonard, who is scoring 30 points regularly in the NBA playoffs.”
.@JalenRose explains why he doesn't think Kevin Durant will play in Game 4. pic.twitter.com/49zfbYlFll
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) June 6, 2019
While Durant hasn't been made available much since first sustaining a “mild” strained calf on May 8 against the Houston Rockets, the feeling internally is that he is very close to returning, already approaching the final stage of his recovery before taking the floor.
The Warriors will put him through a challenging closed-door workout and a walkthrough before he can rejoin the team on the court, but saying something to the media would ruin any strategy the Warriors may have to catch the Raptors off guard in this vital series.
Thursday should prove a key date when it comes to estimating Durant's return, though it is likely that he will be a coy game-time decision, to provide maximum incertitude ahead of Friday's Game 4.
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