The Golden State Warriors lost Game 1 of the NBA Finals Thursday night in Toronto, and the team may be without superstar Kevin Durant for Game 2 on Sunday night.
Durant traveled with the team to Canada for the start of the series, but coach Steve Kerr has hinted that Durant may not be ready to play in the coming days. Charles Barkley suggested Thursday that the Warriors are “lying” about Durant’s status, but despite the uncertainty over his injury, Durant is still one of the betting favorites to win the NBA Finals MVP award.
What’s going on with Kevin Durant? Let’s take a day-by-day look at what the Warriors have said about his injury.
May 8th: Kevin Durant suffers leg injury in Game 5 win against the Houston Rockets
Kevin Durant left the game after a non-contact injury that caused commentators, analysts and fans to speculate that he may have suffered an Achilles tear. The Warriors released a statement after the game confirming that Durant strained his right calf, and would not be traveling with the team for Game 6.
May 17th: Steve Kerr says Durant’s injury is more severe than the Warriors thought
“Hopefully he continues to progress, and he has made progress but it’s a little more serious than we thought at the very beginning. So we’ll see where it all goes, but he’s in there all day long getting treatment. He’s done a great job of committing himself to that process…. Hopefully he’ll be back at some point, but we’ll just wait and see.”
May 23rd: Steve Kerr says he believes Durant will return
Steve Kerr says that while there’s no way to put a timetable on Durant’s recovery, he believes Durant will play in the NBA Finals.
Via Mercury News:
“We feel like he’s going to be back at some point during the series. That’s our thought and our gut. But again there’s nothing clear cut. We leave it up in the air.”
May 24th: Durant says he initially thought he tore his Achilles
When Durant addressed his injury for the first time to the media, he admitted that, like many fans watching the game, he thought he had suffered an Achilles tear.
Via NBA.com:
“I pushed off to run down court and I felt somebody trip me up. First thing that came to mind, ‘Boogie (Cousins) said, Kobe (Bryant) said…’ that it felt like somebody kicked them (after they tore Achilles tendons).
So the first thing in my mind was to slow down and process what happened. Then I started walking, and I could put weight on it, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought.”
May 27th: Warriors rule out Durant for Game 1
With three days until the start of the NBA Finals, Steve Kerr confirmed that Durant would not be available for Game 1 against the Raptors, and did not confirm whether or not Durant would remain in Oakland instead of traveling with the team. Kerr did note that Durant had begun shooting on his own, but that he wasn’t doing any significant on-court work.
Via Mercury News:
“KD’s not playing in Game 1. We’ll see where it goes from here. The fact there’s a lot of days in between games in the Finals helps us. So we’ll see.”
May 28th: Durant will travel with the team, opening door for a possible Game 2 return
May 29th: Kerr says Durant has not been cleared for practice, and won’t be thrown into a Finals game before he’s ready
“It’s too early to tell. I mean, he hasn’t practiced with us yet. I’m not going to throw him into a Finals game without him having practiced. But, no, he needs to progress. He’s doing some on-court work individually now, slowly but surely. But it’s not anything where you can say ‘oh he’ll be ready on X day. It’s literally day-to-day, we have to see how he’s progressing.”
May 30th: Kerr calls Durant’s immediate return a “long shot”
The Warriors went on to lose Game 1 on Thursday night, 118-109. The series will continue with Game 2 on Sunday, June 2nd.
May 31st: Durant ruled out for Game 2, “near-impossible to play”
Steve Kerr told reporters on Friday that Durant has no chance to play in Game 2.
“Kevin’s not going to play Sunday. I guess we’ve been sort of holding out hope, but I might as well just say it now. He’s not practicing today. We’ll have a practice tomorrow, but he’s still progressing. It’s near impossible for him to play on Sunday.”
Durant will have another seven days to recover before the first possible elimination game of the series (Game 4 on June 7th at Oracle Arena). The last possible game in the series will occur on June 16th, if necessary.
