Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant is not returning for the 2019-20 NBA season, despite the playoffs being scheduled to end as late as October. The All-Star confirmed the decision to ESPN, Friday.

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“It’s just best for me to wait,” Durant said. “I don’t think I’m ready to play that type of intensity right now in the next month. It gives me more time to get ready for next season and the rest of my career. My season is over. I don’t plan on playing at all. We decided last summer when it first happened that I was just going to wait until the following season.

“I had no plans of playing at all this season.”

Durant, while still nursing a torn Achilles tendon, is fully recovered from COVID-19. He tested positive for the virus in March.

“I was shocked,” he said, regarding testing positive. “And then I was curious. I wanted to know what it meant. What is the virus about? I started to get information about it more and more. It calmed me down … I was just more curious to what I was dealing with and how I could fight it myself.”

The NBA season will return on July 31.

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Kevin Durant's ruptured Achilles injury from the 2019 NBA Finals was both devastating to his team and to himself as an individual. The Golden State Warriors went on to lose to the Toronto Raptors while Durant has been out of the NBA ever since. As of right now, Durant is a member of the Brooklyn Nets but he won't be able to play at all this season as he tries to rehabilitate his devastating injury. Typically, a ruptured Achilles can be a career-killer but based on all of the videos we have seen thus far, it seems like KD is poised for a full recovery.

In the video below, KD flexes his jump shot ability to the cameras. As you can see, Durant is pulling off a plethora of pull-up jumpers like it's nothing. It appears as though Durant still has great range and can make shots from anywhere. Not to mention, his footwork is looking pretty great, as well. 

Kevin Durant has consistently been one of the best players in the NBA for a better part of a decade now. His skills out on the court are hard to match and his skills are what ultimately helped propel the Golden State Warriors to two-straight NBA championships. In the offseason, Durant joined the Brooklyn Nets who also added the likes of Kyrie Irving. Unfortunately, the Nets have yet to see KD on the court due to his ruptured Achilles tendon.

Durant is on pace to come back next season although not everyone thinks he will be much of a help. In a new report from ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, some executives think KD is destined for a bad year when he comes back. 

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“I think Durant will probably have the worst year of his career,” one executive said. “No fault to him, but people don’t come back from Achilles injuries and tear the league up. It’s all relative. In the worst year of his career, he might be the 25th-best player in the league, and they might win 50 games. I just don’t see them being a realistic contender barring some moves.

While an Achilles injury is, indeed, hard to come back from, it doesn’t mean KD will be washed. There are a ton of factors that go into whether or not a player comes back in shape. As it stands, Durant is making great progress and Nets fans should be excited.