Practice Notes: Kevin Durant return pending scan next week; Blake Griffin out

The Nets held their first media availability since the game against the Houston Rockets… and was there a lot to unpack. Steve Nash provided updates on star forward Kevin Durant; Blake Griffin spoke for the very first time as a Net; DeAndre Jordan detailed his reunion with his Lob City partner.

Unfortunately, it was a bit disappointing. Hamstrings are tricky things.

Status update on Kevin Durant

The Nets will open the second half of the regular season Thursday without Kevin Durant, who will miss his 10th straight game against the Boston Celtics with the lingering effects of a left hamstring strain.

Steve Nash said Durant will have another scan next week but stressed that he hasn’t played in nearly a month and will need a ramp-up once the results come out positive … whenever that is.

“Kevin is getting better all the time and has a scan next week,” Nash said. “We will assess him then but he hasn’t played in a month basically so no matter what the scan says, he will have an appropriate ramp up and we put him in a position to finish the season strong.”

Back on February 21, prior to the win over the Clippers, Nash noted how Durant was improving at “a rapid rate.” He was even optimistic KD could return before the All-Star break but after a second scan, the Nets realized Durant would not be back so soon.

“I think when we got the second scan, we knew this was going to be longer,” Nash said. “The first scan, there was bleeding and the imaging wasn’t as clear. I think we realized with the second scan, this was the type of timeline we are looking at and we’ll see. That can change. We were expecting the potential for this to be a month.

Nash added how Durant will under yet another scan next week. He did provide a specific date.

“Who knows what the scan says. Who knows where this takes us and how soon he’s back but I think when we got the second scan, we knew that this is probably what we are looking at.”

The Nets want to see the left hamstring healed. In the meantime, the Nets 32-year-old superstar has been on the court putting in individual work.

“I think seeing the injury heal frankly,” Nash said. “That simple. He’s been on the court. He’s been doing a lot of work and just making sure he has the appropriate healing response in the window that we’ve had here. He had the two weeks then the scan, two weeks then a scan and if it’s progressing in the right direction, that’s the No. 1 thing. Then two is it fully healed and how much more can we predict he has to go for to be fully healed.

“He’s already on the court and he’s already working individually, putting himself in a position to escalate that ramp up whenever the scan gives us the appropriate info.”

Durant is doing light work on the practice court such as half-court and working on his shooting rhythm. Nash and the Nets are restricting Durant from participating in any high-speed workouts or five-on-five.

“He is definitely not doing five-on-five. He’s definitely not doing any full-court high-speed running but he’s doing a lot of half-court tight space shooting rhythm work. We will wait for the scan to escalate it and take…