The Brooklyn Nets have had a really hard time cobbling things together without star Kevin Durant. KD has been out of the lineup since January 15th. At one point the Nets suffered a grueling 11-game losing streak just before All Star break.

But the road is suddenly looking a bit brighter. Durant has been ramping up and his return is starting to sound like it's not far off at all.

Brooklyn head coach Steve Nash gave an update on the team's brightest star ahead of the first game after the break, a home tilt vs. the Boston Celtics. Kyrie Irving won't be available in that one since it's in Brooklyn. Ben Simmons, Joe Harris, and Goran Dragic aren't ready to go either. So this should be some tough sledding.

Where do things stand with KD? Does the opponent factor in to his return? For example would they be more likely to ease him into action vs. a softer opponent or just throw him into the fire vs. the Milwaukee Bucks?

“I think if he's ready to play, he's ready to play,” said Steve Nash. “We have kind of trust in that whenever performance [staff], Kevin, and everyone's on the same page, he's ready to play regardless of who we're playing.”

KD injured his MCL a few years ago while he was with the Golden State Warriors. In similar fashion, it was friendly fire that hurt him. Bruce Brown fell into his leg during a home tilt vs. the New Orleans Pelicans.

Nash spoke generally about the Nets' process for bringing back injured (or unavailable) players. He discussed navigating the ailment as well as an accompanying lack of conditioning as part of the process.

“In general, terms to return to play, you have to have a number of high intensity workouts,” detailed Nash. “So playing at full capacity, typically three times before you can return without incident, and [Durant, Simmons, and Joe Harris are] at different stages of that,” Nash said. “Some are in the high intensity bucket already, some are not… I think Kevin's probably the closest but has some time to make up still. Ben and Joe trail behind him.”

Durant is the most important Nets player of all so that represents some good news. The way Nash spoke, it sounded like KD has already participated in some of the high intensity workouts. If his knee didn't have any setbacks maybe he can get through that process unscathed.

“Yeah, he played, he's playing,”  Nash said. “I would say he's had one [high intensity workout] so we'll see. He seems like he's getting there and we'll see how he responds tomorrow, and then we'll try and get him his subsequent workouts.”

Durant is averaging 29.3 points per game, and he was logging a very high 36.5 minutes per contest. The team may want to get that second number way down to ensure he's good to go for the playoffs. They're not terribly far off now. Could KD be ready for the game vs. Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks this Saturday?

“I'm sure it's possible, but for me it's probably again, in the next three games, more likely than in Saturday,” Nash said.

Keep in mind, KD had a rather severe Achilles injury before he landed in Brooklyn. The surgery and rehab from that sidelined the future Hall-of-Famer for a full season.

A year ago he only appeared in half of the regular season games. So the team may be looking to get back to their cautious roots with the Texas product. Part of the reason James Harden is no longer with the Nets is because of injuries suffered by the Big 3 in his short tenure. They don't want that to be the same for a Big 3 of Durant, Irving and Simmons.

“Kevin [Durant's] traditionally been an unbelievably quick and strong healer,” said Nash. “That's positive. But at the same time we don't want to risk him for two or three games at this point, we want to make sure he feels confident on top of the performance team so that we can have him for the long haul. Not for a couple games that are jeopardizing the rest of the season,” explained the second year head coach.

There are only 23 games remaining before the playoffs. Irving is only eligible to appear in eight of those contests barring a change to local ordinance. They don't want to push Durant, but they are really looking forward to his return. It's felt like forever since we were watching him pull hesi-pull-ups on opponents.