Kevin Garnett won’t be making a return trip to Boston this season.
The Nets announced Thursday that Garnett will sit out of his fourth straight game because of back spasms when the team travels for Friday’s game against the Celtics.
Brooklyn, which has won four games in a row and five of six, is 5-5 in games Garnett has missed this season.
Other than missing one game with a sprained ankle back in November, this is the first time Garnett, 37, has missed significant time due to injury. The other six times he sat out were termed “rest” days to keep the future Hall of Famer as fresh as possible for the playoff push.
The Nets have maintained they aren’t concerned about Garnett’s back becoming a long-term issue, though they’ve already had a lot of experience with back spasms this season after Andrei Kirilenko missed 26 of the first 31 games.
General manager Billy King reiterated that Garnett’s back won’t be a long-term problem in an interview on SiriusXM NBA Radio on Thursday morning.
“The one thing with [Garnett] – and I think we’ve done with all our guys – it’s more about getting them to the point where they’re ready for the stretch [run],” King said. “There’s no timetable on it … just day-to-day. When he’s ready to go, he’ll be back.
“But like we’ve done with [Kirilenko], Deron, when they’re out, we’ll give them as much time as possible. It’s a long season. I’d rather have him in the playoffs. I’d rather have close to 100 percent than 60 … [but] I don’t expect it to be super long.”
Garnett is averaging 6.7 points and 6.7 rebounds in 21 minutes per game. Since switching to center on Jan. 1 – when the Nets switched to a smallball lineup and turned their season around – Garnett’s points and rebounding numbers aren’t dramatically different, but his shooting percentage has improved dramatically – from making 36.4 percent in the 2013 portion of the schedule to 57 percent in 2014.
The Nets also announced they have signed point guard Jorge Gutierrez to a 10-day contract.
Gutierrez, who played for the D-League’s Canton Charge, was a training camp invitee who was cut toward the end of camp. He averaged 13.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 1.2 steals in 35 games for Canton.