Kevin Durant has sprained knee and will miss at least two weeks
Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets will be re-evaluated in two weeks after injuring his knee on Sunday. Credit: Getty Images/Michael Reaves
Can the Nets hold it together without Kevin Durant?
That was the question Nets fans were asking themselves Monday after the team announced that Durant had suffered an isolated sprain of his right knee in the third quarter of the Nets win over Miami Sunday.
The Nets said that Durant will be re-evaluated in two weeks, but it is almost certain that he will be out longer than that. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that the team is expecting him to be out at least a month.
The Nets have won 18 of their last 20 games and everything seemed to be going their way when they entered FTX Arena Sunday. Then, with a little more than a minute left in the third quarter, the Heat’s Jimmy Butler fell to the court after his shot was blocked by Ben Simmons. Butler then rolled into the side of Durant’s knee, knocking Duant to the court.
Durant sat on the court for a about a minute and Kyrie Irving left the bench to check on him. Durant then got up and tried to rejoin his teammates on the floor. After about 30 seconds, he was pulled from the game and sent to the locker room. Minutes later, the team announced that he would not return.
Durant, at age 34, had played his way into the MVP conversation as he was averaging 29.7 points, sixth highest in the NBA this season, to go with 6.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.5 blocks. He leads the NBA in free-throw shooting at 93.4%, a career high, in addition to a career best in field-goal shooting at 55.9%.
The Nets have not fared well without Durant in the past. Durant sprained the MCL of his left knee on Jan. 15 of last season and did not return until March 3. The Nets – who’d been 27-15 at that point – went just 5-16 in his absence, including dropping 11 straight games.
The one big difference between that injury and this one is that Irving was still a part time player as his unvaccinated status and missed nine of those games. Irving is currently averaging 26 points.
After Sunday’s game, before the severity of Durant’s injury was known, Irving was asked what changes with Durant not in the game.
“I just think obviously our strategy,” he said. “It’s pretty clear that KD and me are predominantly most of the offense, but we have incredible shooters and incredible talented basketball players around us and now I think it shapes into all around offense and guys being ready to play. I think one of the greatest qualities of our team is the bench and the way we support each other despite whose in the lineup. And now, it’s time to exemplify that until we figure out the timeline of K and when he can be available again.
The Nets currently have the second-best record in the NBA, behind only the Boston Celtics whom they are scheduled to play on Tuesday.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
