Kevin Durant is going to miss at least another week with his latest injury.
The Phoenix Suns star will be out one to two weeks after he went down with a left ankle sprain on Tuesday night, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. This latest setback comes just four games after Durant returned from a calf strain he sustained last month.
Durant went down just before halftime of the Suns’ 104-93 win over the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Cup on Tuesday night as he was driving to the rim. Durant stepped directly on Spurs forward Julian Champagnie’s foot as he tried to rise up to the rim and take a shot.
He fell to the floor hard, clearly in pain, but drew a foul on the play. He left the game shortly after taking his free throws. He returned briefly in the third quarter, but eventually left the game for good and went directly back to the locker room.
“It’s part of our league,” Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said after the game on Tuesday, via ESPN. “We’re not any different. There’s not a team in the league that’s not dealing with some in-and-out of the lineups, and hopefully we teach and start to learn a way of playing that’s good for everybody, regardless of who’s healthy and who’s not. Other people have opportunities to get more minutes. So, we’ll just see how Kevin is, and you’ve just got to keep playing.”
Durant has averaged 25.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game while shooting nearly 54% from the field this season. He had 13 points and four rebounds in 16 minutes in Tuesday’s win.
The Suns have been great with Durant on the floor this season. He helped lead them to an 8-1 start, and the team is 11-2 with him on the court. They went just 1-6 without him, though, while he was recovering from his calf strain. Bradley Beal was also recovering from a calf injury at the same time. The Suns hold a 12-8 record headed into Thursday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans.
