Kevin Durant was injured while warming up against the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Phoenix Suns had to miss their home debut. There is now even a fear within the franchise that the regular season is over for KD.
Like Greg Moore from Arizona Republic reports, some members of the Phoenix Suns are concerned that Durant has sustained a second-degree ankle strain, which would mean a four- to six-week hiatus. The regular season ends on April 9th, the playoffs start a week later.
Publicly, the Suns were still covered after the 132:101 win over Oklahoma City, but the words of coach Monty Williams made people sit up and take notice. “I feel bad because he feels bad,” said the coach. “I saw his face and I was with him in OKC for a long time, so I know how he feels and I really don’t wish that on him.”
The plan was actually that Durant should appear in front of a home crowd for the first time after his trade from Brooklyn. However, an hour before tip-off, during a personal workout, Durant lost his balance while trying to throw and twisted his ankle badly. The ankle was swollen as a result, KD had to leave the arena in a support shoe. An MRI should bring clarity this Thursday.
The 34-year-old remains only three games out for the Suns after returning on March 1 from a medial ligament injury. In his three games, KD averaged 26.7 points and 7.3 rebounds on average with fabulous odds of 69 percent from the field and 53.8 percent from downtown – Phoenix won all three games.
It could be another setback for Durant. Since the 2019 finals, the forward has played just 132 out of a possible 299 games in the regular season.
