Kevin Durant Injury Update: Thunder F To Return Tuesday?
By Evan Massey
The Oklahoma City Thunder are not ruling Kevin Durant out for Tuesday’s game vs. the New Orleans Pelicans.
There have been quite a few teams that have been bitten by the injury bug this season, and one of them has been the Oklahoma City Thunder. Both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have missed extended periods of time, and they have also seen injuries to Anthony Morrow, Mitch McGary, and Jeremy Lamb. Needless to say, the Thunder have not been able to “battle through” the injuries and are now in a world of hurt as far as the playoff standings are concerned.
Durant is coming off of an MVP winning season last year, and has continued improving as a player each and every season that he has been around. Take a look at his numbers from last season:
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/1/2014.
Obviously his return would be huge for the Thunder, and it appears that he might not be too far away from getting back into the action. Scott Brooks wouldn’t rule him out to play in Tuesday night’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans, and it shows that he is very close to getting back on the court even if he doesn’t end up playing on Tuesday.
“Kevin continues to progress well. Thought he had a really good day and will continue to build on that.” – Scott Brooks
All that can be hoped for in this situation is that he is not rushing back from his injury in order to help his team due to their struggles, and that he is being patient and waiting for his foot to completely heal. The last thing that Oklahoma City needs is to see him aggravate the injury and be out even longer, or potentially end his career like Yao Ming did with the same injury.
That being said, the Thunder are likely being very careful with their superstar and he should be returning at full health. At just 26 years of age, he is in his prime and is body is still able to heal much quicker than other older players. He has worked diligently in his rehab, and knows that his team needs him to be 100 percent healthy before returning to action.
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Oklahoma City simply doesn’t have a great chance to make it into the playoffs with the rough start to the season that they have had. Durant and Westbrook being back will help them get back on the right track, but with how good the Western Conference is looking they have a lot of ground to make up.
It will be interesting to see whether or not he plays some minutes against New Orleans, but either way it’s exciting to see that he is near returning. There is no question that he will have a major impact and will help them make a run at the playoffs. Either way, just seeing him back on the court is going to be a good sight for any NBA fan.