Kevin Durant cannot return too early from treatment on his right foot. He is absolutely putting his career in danger if he rushes back to play on a foot that is causing him pain, as the sort of fracture that Durant suffered last fall could line him up for a lifetime of pain and endless breaks if he takes shortcuts with his recovery. Other NBA players as disparate as Michael Jordan, Pau Gasol and Zydrunas Ilgauskas have managed to enjoy lengthy NBA careers after breaking the same bone Durant broke in October, but All-Star types like Bill Walton and Yao Ming have also seen their fortunes crumble because of the condition.
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With the potential severity of the injury in place, and with a recent re-evaluation of his health leading to Durant’s return to the bench, NewsOK.com’s Anthony Slater wasn’t out of line in the slightest when he asked Durant if the reigning MVP had considered a worst-case scenario for 2014-15:
You feel very confident you will return this season?
No doubt. No doubt. I’m looking forward to returning this season. No doubt. I’m not packing it in at all.
You’ve been pretty much injury free before this year. Are you frustrated, what’s your mindset?
Obviously, I’d love to play. I love playing basketball, I love my teammates and I love the organization. I want to play for them. But it happens. It happens. It’s a part of the game. And once I figured that it’s a part of the game and I’m not the first one to go through it, I was at peace with it. But obviously I didn’t take it too well because I wanted to play. But I know I can’t be out there hobbling around, limping around on one foot. I want to be out there at full strength.
Durant underwent a second surgical procedure on Feb. 22, an operation that replaced the screw that was placed in his right foot last October, after it was determined that the screw needed to be in place to stabilize his recovery moving forward. It had been suggested by some that Durant would try to pitch his comeback alongside the similarly-returning Russell Westbrook (who came back just four days after surgery on Wednesday evening) as the Thunder attempt to hit the home stretch at full health.
Instead, sanity is prevailing. Durant doesn’t need to be at 100 percent to play because he is incapable of playing through pain. Durant needs to be at 100 percent because any bit of pain from that right foot means that significant pressure is being put on that rather fragile bone, pressure that usually leads to another fracture.
As we discussed upon Kevin’s initial fracture, his combination of frame and game is just about unprecedented in this league. Larry Bird might be around the same size, but he certainly couldn’t sky like Durant. Larry Nance could sure throw down, but Larry Nance wasn’t asked to run his 6-10 frame through screens like a shooting guard, as Durant is. Michael Jordan, Ray Allen and Reggie Miller certainly ran quite a bit during their time as off guards, but they didn’t have to do so with Durant’s massive frame to support.
He’s a special, unique player that truly needs to take as much time as needed to work his way toward a pain-free existence. With the Thunder currently a game up on New Orleans for the final playoff seed out West, there is absolutely no reason for Durant to come back too early.
And there is absolutely no reason to believe that he’ll be out for the rest of the season, mainly because Durant and the Thunder have handled this injury so intelligently thus far.
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