After limping off the court in his team’s 120-105 win over the Pelicans last night, Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant was diagnosed with a sprained MCL Sunday morning. While the team has yet to issue a timeline for him to return to action, similar injuries have carried a 4-6 week recovery period.
Durant leads the league in scoring, averaging 29.3ppg through Saturday’s contest. The 33 year old is also averaging 7.4 rebounds per game, and is flirting with a career high assist figure, currently boasting a 5.8ast per game mark on the year.
Durant is believed to have sustained the injury in the 2nd quarter when Nets teammate Bruce Brown was knocked backwards into him. The former league MVP was in visible discomfort and was removed from the game shortly thereafter for precautionary measures.
The loss of Durant is a significant blow to a Brooklyn squad that was just starting to hit its stride. At 27-15, the Nets are a half game back of the Bulls for the number one seed in the Eastern Conference. They had recently welcomed back Kyrie Irving for road games, and perennial All-Star James Harden was beginning to look like his old self after a slow start to the year.
Durant had firmly entrenched himself in the MVP conversation in a year where there’s no clear front runner for the award. Now attention will shift from a possible 2nd league MVP, to ensuring that he’s back at 100% health for the postseason.
Brooklyn has yet to announce the severity of the sprain (Grade 1-3 sprains all carry different recovery timelines), making the 4-6 week timeline a “best guess” at this point. The Nets are next in action Monday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner