OAKLAND, Calif. — Kevin Durant is down for the immediate future with a knee injury, and that’s a huge blow on both ends of the floor for the playoff-bound, championship-chasing Golden State Warriors.
Stephen Curry and Co. are going to have to carry on without Durant perhaps for the remainder of the regular season – and maybe longer.
Durant will be out indefinitely after he sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee and bruised a bone in his leg during Tuesday night’s loss at Washington, leaving the Warriors without their shot-blocking big man who also does it all on offense.
“Heal up my Man…we will hold it down til your back on the court with us. Prayers up!” Curry, the two-time reigning MVP, posted Wednesday on Twitter.
The NBA’s top team will push toward the playoffs without its leading scorer and rebounder. For March, at least.
The Warriors said Wednesday their medical staff hasn’t ruled out a Durant return before the end of the regular season, though nobody is predicting anything.
“At this time it’s just speculation to guess when that is,” General Manager Bob Myers said. “He’ll heal as his body heals. And when he’s healed and our doctors clear him and we feel like it’s safe, he’ll play. I want to know … but at this point the plan is just to re-evaluate him and see where he’s at in four weeks.”
Durant hyperextended his knee early in a 112-108 loss to the Wizards and later underwent an MRI exam, which revealed a Grade 2 – or moderate – sprain in the knee as well as a bruised tibia.
Durant is scheduled to be re-evaluated in four weeks, so if he’s fully healthy then, that would leave about two weeks in the regular season. He returned Wednesday to the Bay Area and immediately begin rehabilitation.
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