JUNE 11: The Warriors believe that Durant’s MRI on Tuesday will confirm a torn right Achilles tendon, league sources tell ESPN’s Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
JUNE 10: Warriors superstar forward Kevin Durant suffered a right Achilles injury during Game 5 of the Finals, GM Bob Myers told the media after Golden State’s victory on Monday.
“The initial injury was a calf injury. This is not a calf injury. I don’t know how they are related but this is a different injury,” Myers said, according to a tweet by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
Durant will undergo an MRI on Tuesday to determine the extent of the injury, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN tweets.
Durant returned to action after missing over a month with a right calf strain suffered during the conference semifinals against Houston. Durant played well, scoring 11 points in 12 minutes, before injuring himself when he planted the leg making an offensive move during the second quarter. He was helped back to the locker room by teammate Andre Iguodala, among others.
Naturally, Golden State will be questioned for allowing Durant to play. Myers said he’ll take the hit.
“He was cleared to play tonight, that was a collaborative decision,” Ben Golliver of the Washington Post tweets. “I don’t believe there’s anybody to blame. I understand this world, if you have to, you can blame me. I run our basketball operations department.”
Durant departed the arena during the second half walking on crutches and wearing a walking boot, Shelburne adds in another tweet. If Durant suffered a tear, the injury would have giant implications on the free agent market.
Durant was expected to opt out of his contract — he has a $31.5MM player option for 2019/20 — and head into the market as the top free agent. Rumors of Durant joining one of the New York teams have been rampant and those plans could be shattered if Durant’s injury is significant. The Warriors have stated they plan to do everything possible to keep Durant.
Now, it’s possible Durant will opt into the remaining year of his contract if he’ll miss a good chunk of next season. Teammate DeMarcus Cousins didn’t return to the court for nearly a year after suffering a ruptured Achilles while he was still with the Pelicans.
Achilles…probably was Achilles the whole time
*I’m guess Achilles btw before someone immediately says…’and your source is?’
Well one thing that’s for certain is that none of us will know for sure until the MRI comes back. If it’s an achilles you obviously can and will take credit, if you’re wrong you’ll say “it looked like an achilles to me”. Just looks to me that you want to be right.
man you still found a way to naysay…well played sir bwhahaha.
You tried to make it so that you’re right and if you’re wrong nobody could argue with you lol bro come on man.
I feel really bad for the 2 of you
You can’t just make a prediction then walk it back lol it defeats the point of making the prediction
I think the bigger question is, misdiagnosis or misdirection? If the latter then why? Did they lie to Kerr too, and the team?
It was certainly Achilles the entire time. GS said it was his calf so Toronto couldn’t game plan as if we couldn’t be back. Kerr wasn’t gonna play him unless they went down 3 games. He was seriously walking around with ice on his ACHILLES for a CALF INJURY. It’ll be a real shame if KD shaved a lot of time off his career just so GS could lose. I feel really bad for KD
Thanks doctor. You shouldn’t assume anything. I would tell you this, he seemed to be walking “ok” immediately after the injury and when he was in the boot on crutches. We will see when the MRI results come in… BUT, I will trust his doctors, who I bet are the best SF has to offer, when they diagnosed it as a calf injury and not an Achilles.
As a guy who is in his 6th month of rehab for a torn achilles, all I can say is I wasn’t walking that well after fully rupturing mine. Go back and look when Boogie did it and he wasn’t either. It doesn’t hurt as much as your foot just doesn’t work. It is the craziest injury I ever encountered. If it is fully ruptured, it is a full year to recover, no short cuts. You can be a fat weekend warrior like me or KD, it takes a year.
If he had a partially torn Achilles he would not have been able to take the floor period. However, any injury to your leg is going to effect the rest of your leg and make other parts vulnerable to injury because of over compensation.
Agreed, your foot doesn’t work. You literally can not lift your heel off the floor.
No i agree with you. I think it was his Achilles the whole time too
“The Warriors have stated they plan to do everything possible to keep Durant.”
In the wake of what happened, that sounds very threatening. It’s like a guy on one of those cop shows that says to his wife, “If I can’t have you, then no one will.”
Obviously kidding, but I really have to wonder how much Durant will want to come back to GS since all the public scrutiny of him milking his injury.
What the heck was Durant doing busting moves up top?– What good could that have led to? Durant was supposed to space out the D with corner 3s. Instead he’s trying to do it all.
GSW is screwing up every way there is including just not being all that good. JVG said ‘skittery’, perfect word. Looney out now also. Toronto is going to sneak in for a title. The Cavs never had their path cleared so clearly.
I’m glad you’re here. You know more than Durant about basketball.
I mean he probably shouldn’t have been doing anything except camping in the corner. I wouldn’t have complained if he was just a traffic cone on defense.
You see what happened and you still quip like that? Very bold. Durant was okay out there, not awful on D (though not as aware as he could be) until he tried to get fancy when nothing was available. If he just passes the ball along and sets up for a shot that others create he finishes the game.
Stef Klay Draymond, these are the players who will create the shots and win the game. Durant should have been in spot-up mode and saving movement skills for defense.
Dude stop. When your on the floor in the game things happen. He never should have played but he did because the media and the fans chastised him and he felt the pressure. All these reports by the media about “GSW players being upset about KD etc, etc”. They never named names but alluded that his teammates and coaches were upset for KD for not being committed to the team and that he was trying to protect himself from getting the best contract during FA. It’s despicable. Yes, you want your guys to play thru pain but playing thru pain is different from risking turning a somewhat significant injury that can sideline you for a month into an injury that can keep you out for a year, and for some, end your career. And I guarantee you that most of those “fans” would not give 2f’s about the quality of his life or remaining years as a player if he’s not in GSW. Period.
I concur with every word.
Shifting blame away from the ‘victim’ is always acceptable though I would shift it to the the original 2-week diagnosis.
GSW is not fundamentally sound today and Durant tried to do too much.
dude he hurt himself moving and stopping. If he can pop his achilles by ending motion then he should not have been on the floor at all. Doing too much? Yeezus. Running and stopping…pivoting…those are basic things you do in any action sport.
He was not attempting a basic thing when he hurt himself. He should not have been lurking around the top of the key in the first place, trying to create– Kerr should have put a stop to that. It didn’t look like he was running plays; teammates were close by but not setting picks.
He stays in the wings as a shooter, he finishes the game and plays next year. As @cesc says, simple as.
“Should not have been on the floor at all”… but he was. Should have been conditional on following strict protocols.
Dudes gonna stay put rather than opting out.
If you dont think he could get the max in free agency i have a timeshare in Arizona to sell you.
Well if you consider how much you spend each year on a hotel during your vacations, a timeshare is a great value. Imagine owning your own hotel room!
Is it ocean front view? I may be interested.
Well… if Durant was going to leave to create his own legacy, here’s proof how important he is to the Warriors. Maybe this will be enough for him to stay.
I’d be surprised if this is his Achilles. It was his soleus muscle the whole time, which is part of his calf.
There are 2 simple tests to know if it a torn achilles. The doctors lay the patient on a table face down and there is a noticable droop on the the foot is one and also the patient will not be able to raise his heel off the ground while standing.
Raptor fans cheering him getting injured showed no class. Lowry injuring Looney with a take out was classless too. I kinda liked Raptors but now they are a bunch of cheaters.
Did you see Lowry calling the fans out for cheering for KD getting injured? Sports get competitive, especially on the biggest stage…I think you’re looking a little too far into it
As DMC said Toronto’s fans are trash, simple as!!!
Dude it was a very small amount of fans and I love how you ignore when the entire crowd started chanting KD! KD! KD! and gave him a round of applause as he walked off the court. Those kinds of idiot fans are in EVERY arena. My Knicks and my Cavs. Stop making it a “Toronto” thing.
And that move is called a “box out”. It wasn’t dirty. When your a small vs a big the smaller player has to get low and unfortunately Looney landed poorly. I’m sure if you asked Looney he would be the first to say it wasn’t a dirty play and obviously the refs didn’t see it as a dirty play and not a single GSW player came after Lowry or made any negative comment about it.
Have you ever played basketball as an adult? just curious.
Myself being pushed into playing and more. I feel for Durant and Looney because they were pushed into playing. The playoffs to GSW and coach were way too important than their health.
I saw Looney and him hurting there shortly before the half. Durant was already out but really felt something was going to happen.
I am sorry I would not put the playoffs into this kind of spotlight with players. What if you injure yourself and then career is over or something or maybe playing for another team to pick you up during off season and something happens.
Turned out to be a close game. Was hoping Raptors would win it but may come down to a game 7 or maybe they can win in Oakland.
Durant probably will be out rest of time now and Looney. Have to say it has been a great series otherwise. But I do wish both players the best and hope seriously think about recovering.
Sorry to be so harsh but being top dog over your own health and risking it just for another ring or such.
You don’t think these guys are pushing to play themselves? It’s the biggest stage the game has to offer, pretty sure they want more than anything to be out there…fake news buddy
You’re saying this guy’s post is fake news? He is only saying these players should be careful about defending themselves. Everybody knows Durant re-injured himself…
Remember how OKC fans called Durant a cupcake and many trolls calls him a cupcake. That might have been the motivation for him playing too. Not long ago Leonard was called a cupcake for not playing while injured.
They all want to be out there. But if your a medical doctor or a coach who knows the doctors feelings then it’s up to them to protect the player from hurting themselves. KD cares way too much about what ppl think of him and the media really, really didn’t help the matter.
Here’s your dilemma and I think you take playing hurt every time.
You sign a sports contract and you are nicked up, you play anyway. If there’s a chance you can go, you go.
What’s the other choice.. you’re not a professional athlete and you make a hundred grand a year as an accountant?
So a professional athlete gets hurt playing sports but now has two million bucks for a nest egg or whatever the numbers are $$. You have your surgery you get healthy and you walk like I do- a little bit of Limp from Recreational Sports but you got your nest egg. Easy choice every time. Ask Bill Walton.
Very few guys get out without a major limp or hitch in their get along. Barry Sanders?
Not enough room here to fully describe what I’m trying to say. I hope you get the gist of it.
I guess what I’m saying is that it’s part of the deal. You got to play hurt. There’s always risk for career ending injury. But you make millions of dollars for that risk. It’s a trade off.
Big difference between playing thru pain vs risking an injury that literally prevents you from taking the floor for an entire year. Not even a close comparison. Plenty of playes have played with broken or dislocated fingers. At the end of every season we hear about “such and such” are having surgery for an injury we never even knew they had. Anything involving the leg needs preventive care because what’s an NBA player without healthy legs?
Durant will not pass up his $31 million player option now that he has probably injured his Achilles. Rehabbing in a comfortable environment as well as being around when Cousins was rehabbing his injury should be very strong factors of staying next year.
If he accepts the player option, does that mean he stays beyond next year? Is that part of the agreement?
Eh?
No…..beyond next year I do not know all of the implications whether be is a restricted FA or if he is unrestricted……can somebody elaborate further on this…
He’d be an unrestricted free agent in 2019 if he declines his player option, or an unrestricted FA in 2020 if he exercises it.
At this point only a doctor can restrict Durant! ;)
No he would be UFA a year from now if he opts in.
Supposedly it’s not the achilles but I’m not sure they’ve been honest.
He’ll get a max contract from ANY TEAM that has one available. He’s opting out regardless.
that’s so false. you don’t know that. who are you, KD’s agent? this whole thread is so full of idiots.
People said the same about Cousins
He can opt in, collect his $31 mil from the GSW and his price for sacrificing his body and then walk the next year and still get a max contract.
Ok, we have ti take kawhi to nyk
Kawhi Leonard was a monster tonight. What an incredible performance. Going to the basket at will scoring over tough Defenders like Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Nailing threes near the end of the fourth quarter. What a player. Probably going home with a ring for his efforts this year.
GSW forgot how to play defense.
Klay locked him up when it mattered. Foh
He’s what 30 years old a millionaire 100x over but only a 2x champion. It was worth the shot coming back. It’ll be easier to make another 100 mill than it would getting another championship. Now the Dubs should offer a nice insurance package like 2yrs/70mill with a player option and sit him all of next season. He can come back from this health-wise, not the same player, but still a top guy in the league.
russell, jordan, kobe, durant
Not even with the Knicks yet and already hurt.
ESPN has reported that the Warriors believe the MRI in the morning will confirm a torn Achilles. If this is the case everyone believes he will opt in to the buyout option he has for 31.5 million. This is probably the best case scenario for Golden State because everyone knew he was leaving.
Except for paying 31.5 for nothing. And…
The HR GSW offseason digest is not done yet, but I think they would have temporarily had $15-20MM available for a replacement if he opted out. Then they sign Klay, etc.
If this is true then klay thompson is almost absolutely gone. They cant afford another max deal with curry and now kds in place.
Of course they can. They would be killed with the taxes but they can likely afford it, especially moving into a new arena.
durant again was too concerned about what others think. He should have not played. he listened to kerr and others questioning him and played.
Too true my friend, KD should never have played… but hindsight gives you a 20/20 vision. Wish he hadn’t it wasn’t worthy for him, not at all.
I think it had something to do with that pesky little fire inside him of wanting to win another championship. They were down three games to one.
That was bad coaching by Nurse at the end there, Leonard was on a roll, why call timeout?! Why not continue to exploit the Cousins pick and roll. So close!!!
No worries a couple more lost games for Toronto & we all will be happy with a GSW threepeat, no way the trashy Toronto fans deserve to win a ring, no way Jose!
Not like the GS fans are the epitome of class there sport. Your partial owner shoved Lowry and is suspended for a year.
One fan base calling out the other for class is laughable.
I’m a Celtics fan without a dog in the fight but are you really comparing one horrible, entitled fan to a large portion of the Raptors fan base and saying they’re equally as bad?
Well, some of them are reported to have claimed that GSW never needed Durant… not Gary… actually maybe those were national twit-ers not local sports fans IDK for sure. But as a former resident of San Jose, I think there’s a level there that can be smart-a$$/cocky enough to do that.
Believe me I am not a Warrior fan… don’t really like them at all, apart of DMC he is awesome.
But I just dislike waaay more Toronto.
But really I don’t have a dog in the fight neither, apart of DMC, he is my guy!
It wasn’t a large portion but certainly sounded like more than a few cheering when he went down. As for Toronto losing the series, I wouldn’t count on it. Warriors shot 50% from 3 and still only won by a single point.
I already knew it wasn’t a calf injury to begin with. When i saw he was going to play a had a bad feeling something was going to happen. I was hoping i was wrong because i like him as a player. I understand completely that he wanted to get back out there and help his team but now he has screwed himself going into FA. I know a team will still sign him but he will miss a year now then likely. As for the Raptors fans that cheered when he got hurt, you all are disrespectful and pathetic. I don’t care for either team but i would never cheer if any player got hurt. Its called respect which obviously no one has anymore.
Cheering when KD was a bad look for the Raptors fans, but they are generally known around the league as one of the very top fan bases. Trash is a little overboard.
Nah cuz. I’ve been to Toronto for a few different games over the years to watch different sports, and they’re straight trash. A lot of obnoxious, rude, disrespectful, bad Canadian apples up there. You don’t remember them throwing beer at players during one of the Blue Jay runs a few years back? It isn’t overboard. I’m from Philadelphia, so I’m well aware of fans pushing boundaries.
Stop acting as if EVERY fan base doesn’t have a bunch of bad apples. All it takes is 100 a-holes out of 20,000 o make a franchise look bad. Stop overreacting.
Pretty sure this is the #1 reason you don’t come back from an injury too soon. You reinjure or incur another injury. Media pressure, team pressure, self pressure… Not a hindsight is 20-20 thing… it’s a history tells us this happens thing.
Will he get a max? Probably. NYK would be the ones to do it. LAL can’t waste another season of LBJ on a rehabbing KD. GSW are in a tough spot, their tax bill will be substantial with Max on Curry, KD, Klay + Draymond and Iggy accounting for 35M.
Cousins had the worst grade of Achilles tear and he was out for about a calendar year. Injured around New Years, came back around the same.
So there’s a chance Durant won’t even be in next years playoffs. What a shame. Hopefully his tear isn’t as bad. It didn’t look as severe.
Wow…A lot of Doctors on here. “Calling Dr Howard…Dr Fine…Dr Howard”
Those low top shoes have to be called into question. No support for the foot. Bring back the Chuck Taylor Cons…..
I know KD designed them….but maybe he should stick to hooping.
When I had plantar fasciitis, it was my hamstrings that needed targeting and stretching. If he couldn’t stretch it out while he was injured, seems like this was a possibility although I’d hope the medical staff at GS are stronger than an armchair diagnosis. But you gotta think they are doing some internal evaluation now of their protocols.
It sucks to be injured for a year if that’s the case, but now he won’t opt out of the contract so maybe he’s able to play at some point?
Stop name calling. Cons comment was tongue in cheek.
There are 2 simple tests to know if it a torn achilles. The doctors lay the patient on a table face down and there is a noticable droop on the the foot is one and also the patient will not be able to raise his heel off the ground while standing.
I wonder if there’s another team out there that we didn’t consider a FA destination that might jump in and offer a max deal for KD because they can absorb $30-$35 mil in 2019-20 and are looking at 2020 to be competitive and therefor would wait until he’s healthy.
I could see Cuban doing it.
It will be interesting to see if the Warriors stand by their public statements to give him whatever he wants. Sounds nuts to give him that 5 year max now, and I’m not even sure he’ll ask for it. But there’s more in play than in a typical situation. He took less than max in each GSW contract, significantly so in the last one (I believe about 6 mm). Just last season’s late concession might have saved ownership over 30 mm.
Totally devastated