Brooklyn Nets superstar forward Kevin Durant is currently on the sideline due to the league's strict COVID-19 protocols, though the NBA veteran has yet to test positive for the “coronavirus” himself. Nonetheless, Durant will be forced to miss an extended period of time based on the league's quarantine regulations while Nets head coach Steve Nash has since explained that his best player is “extremely upset” about missing multiple games.

Unfortunately for Durant, Nash and the Nets, it remains to be seen as to exactly how much time he will need to miss before being cleared to return to the floor.

“It’s horrible for him,” Nash recently told Nets reporters, via the team's official Twitter account. “He’s worked his way back after such a long layoff, and then to miss games is frustrating for him. But we just gotta stick with it and play the long game, and know that, in time, he’ll be back and we’ll forget about this window that he missed.”

The Nets have underperformed in a major way thus far into 2020-21 with Brooklyn encountering some lofty expectations to begin the season. Even though the aforementioned Nash, a legendary NBA point guard, is currently in the midst of his first season as a head coach, the tandem of Durant and All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving have only produced a 3-4 record.

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Looking to rebound in a hurry, the Durant-less Nets will be in action once again on Tuesday evening with Brooklyn hosting the 4-2 Utah Jazz. In the absence of Durant, Nash will no doubt be looking to Irving to pick up some of the slack.

The Nets are part of an NBA community which is trying to handle the necessary business of dealing with COVID-19 safety procedures and keeping the machinery of the season humming, while also tending to the task of winning basketball games. The new normal isn't easy to adjust to, but Kevin Durant and the rest of the NBA have to find a way through this very difficult winter.