The latest Kevin Durant injury update is great news for the Phoenix Suns, putting to rest some of the doomsday discussions that followed his ankle twist.
Rumors of Kevin Durant’s demise were greatly exaggerated.
After the Suns forward turned his ankle during pregame warmups on Wednesday, reports suggested he could miss the rest of the regular season. Talking heads around the NBA signaled doom for Phoenix as a result.
Fortunately for the Suns, Shams Charania and others reported on Thursday evening a much more positive outlook for Durant and his ankle.
Kevin Durant injury update: Suns to re-evaluate forward in three weeks
UPDATE 7:30 p.m. ET: The Suns’ official statement on Durant says he will be evaluated in three weeks.
“Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant is expected to be re-evaluated in two weeks with his left ankle sprain and return based on rehab progress, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Swelling has gone down in the ankle, which Durant injured slipping in pregame warmups Wednesday,” Charania tweeted.
That two-week timeline for re-evaluation suggests the MRI of Durant’s ankle didn’t detect a grade 2 sprain as initially feared. That injury would have had a likely timeline for return between four and six weeks and had people wrongly writing off the Suns in the postseason.
“The Suns and Durant are hopeful of progress during the re-evaluation window that allows for the 13-time All-Star to return to action shortly after two weeks, sources said. Good news for KD and Phoenix following scary fall in warmups,” Charania added in another tweet.
The hope will be to get Durant back as quickly as possible. The more time he has to gel with the team before the playoffs the better. If he’s good to go in about two weeks, he’d miss just six games with 10 games to close out the regular season from Mar. 24 to Apr. 9. Even if it takes an additional week, Durant would still be available for the final six games of the campaign.
More than anything, the great news in all this is that Durant won’t expect to miss the start of the playoffs. He should have plenty of time to get right physically ahead of the postseason.
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