9:02am: Durant has suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain and a tibial bone bruise, the Warriors announced today (via Twitter). According to the team’s announcement, the veteran forward will be sidelined indefinitely and will be re-evaluated in four weeks. While there’s no timetable for Durant’s return, the club says he could play again before the end of the regular season.
7:56am: The Warriors are hopeful that the knee injury Kevin Durant suffered on Tuesday night will not be season-ending, according to Mike Wise of The Undefeated (Twitter link). However, as Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports, Golden State is bracing for the possibility that Durant may be sidelined for the rest of the regular season, or even longer.
Durant, who was initially diagnosed with a hyperextended left knee, underwent an MRI on Tuesday night to assess the extend of his injury, per Wojnarowski. Doctors are evaluating the results of that test, and the Warriors are expected to make a formal announcement on Durant’s status later on Wednesday.
As Wojnarowski details, there are some team officials and members of Durant’s camp who fear that the injury will prevent the star forward from returning to the Warriors’ lineup before the playoffs begin in April. Some sources close to Durant are worried that the injury could keep him out of action for longer than that, sources tell Wojnarowski.
With their top scorer likely to miss extended time, the Warriors have reached an agreement to sign Matt Barnes. The former King will help provide depth at both forward positions in Durant’s absence, but Golden State will have to rely on its other All-Stars like Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson to help shoulder more of the scoring load with Durant on the shelf.
The Warriors’ interior players will face added pressure during Durant’s absence as well, since the 28-year-old had been arguably been the team’s best rim protector this season, averaging a team-high 1.6 blocks per contest.
they f*****d up trading depth for a superstar
Plus he will probably back for the NBA finals
Finals? you have got to be kidding, the Warriors were only a great team cause of the insane depth they had last year with Livingston,Speights,Barbosa, and Ezeli coming off the bench they no longer have that. Curry and Thompson at best would get the Warriors to the second round this season, they stripped the team for KD which was a huge mistake. The Rockets,Spurs,Grizzlies,Clippers, even the Jazz would smoke GS without Durant.
I mostly agree with you. However, I don’t know if other western teams would beat GS with ease. If they were to be eliminated prior to the Finals, I can’t imagine it being in a series lasting less than 6 games. Still a really good team
I would bet my savings GS won’t get past Memphis,Houston, or San Antonio without Durant. They built this team to have 3 elite shooters in KD,Curry, and Klay. We saw how the Cavs pounced on Klay and Steph last Finals and they lost a 3-1 lead, thats why they got Durant, but Durant has quite honestly been overrated his whole career, he has done nothing significant in the playoffs his whole career and has not won nothing. Lebron had dominated him his whole career not to mention early on his career he got to play with Russ and Harden and still could not win.
it was still early in all of their careers. lebron lost early in his career as well… a few times actually and wound up in miami.
I am not even a Lebron fan but Lebron never had a Westbrook or Harden to play with. He had good role players around him but no true wing to rely on, I would argue that if Lebron had more of a Kobe or Jordan mentality he would have beat Dwight 09 and probably beat Kobe in the Finals but that never happened. Lebron averaged 38 9 and 9 that series and still lost, if Lebron had a Westbrook in Cleveland he would have never left for Miami. Durant had a better team then GS and choked a 3-1 lead, he choked period Lebron has never been up 3-1 and lost a series.
I agree, LeBron had no help in his first stint in Cleveland. His best teammates were Mo Williams, an old Antwan Jamison, and an old Shaq.
I just hope he comes back for the second series of the playoffs. Golden State won’t need him vs the Pelicans, Kings, Nuggets, whoever the 8th seed is lol.
Don’t be too sure about that, Durant basically replaced their whole bench’s productivity and he is out right now. i would have no problem making Green try to beat me on the offensive end and just focusing in on Klay and Curry.
that’s what everyone did last year, and the warriors were still the best team in the league
They were actually the best team because of their depth and the luxury they had of playing both Barbosa and Livingston and not missing a beat while Curry kept his minutes under 30 alot of games. GS wouldnt have won 73 games had it not been for their depth.
This move to GS was always odd, the Warriors are far from a dominant team, they are really top heavy and have no depth. Durant is a huge dissapointment as a so called superstar in the NBA, the dude falls apart whether its through injury or just losing time and time again in the playoffs. Who really cares if he wins rings in GS? They have absolutely no meaning since he jumped to the team that beat him.
Don’t think he said they did. He meant they sacrificed quality depth by using all that money on Durant instead. Or I assume that’s what he meant.
I don’t know how this comment got placed where it did.
He wanted an easy ring.
Now he can get it.
Karma. Somewhere right now the Thunder and their fans along with Westbrook are probably laughing
And 0 f***s will be given from pretty much the entire clipper fan base .. considering that they never have all of their main guys on the floor
Our bench right now is still the best bench in the west. Livingston, Iggy, David West, McGee and Ian Clark.
Also I am praying that the update is correct and after a month he can return.
Rockets have a better bench, Lou,Gordon,Nene,Hazrell,Dekker
Sam Decker lol
Its Dekker dude
Lou Williams is better than Livingston. Livingston thrives off the fact that he plays against opposing point guards who are shorter than him.
It’s fixed. The NBA wanted the Cavs to win so they pushed a guy into Durant.
How they pushed the guy ? Lol tell zaza weak ass to not fall he got blocked like 3 times in a row and IF GS drops from 1 to 2 second place that could be bad
No it not injuries are apart of the game. There are no excuses.
Man they get this news on March 1st aka 3-1 that’s just not even fair…
It’s not the best news, but I’ll take it. Hopefully everything heals within that timeline and he can return near the end of the regular season. Worst case, he comes back during the 1st round. Only thing GSW has to worry about is their hold on the No. 1 seed with the Spurs only 4 games back.
I saying in reference to the guy who said that the nba fix it and wanted the Cavs win it. On this comment section
Without Durant the Warriors are still the favorites to win at least the west if not the championship. With Durant they have no competition. This is what some of you fail to grasp. They still roughly have the same team as last year. Lots of depth, 2 of the top shooters and the best defender. Durant is the all around superstar that makes them unbeatable (in a multi game series). Smart money remains on GS, as the nba wouldn’t dare maneuver to give lebron a championship 2 years in a row, they have to maintain plausible deniability.