After Suns star Kevin Durant suffered an ankle injury during pregame warmups on Wednesday and exited Footprint Center in a walking boot, there’s concern within the organization that he’ll be diagnosed with a Grade 2 sprain, according to Greg Moore of the Arizona Republic.
Durant is expected to undergo more testing on his ankle on Thursday to determine the severity of the sprain. However, because the team isn’t scheduled to practice until Friday, we may have to wait another day for an official update, tweets Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports.
If it’s deemed to be a Grade 2 sprain, it would likely sideline Durant for four to six weeks, jeopardizing his ability to play another regular-season game, writes Moore. The Suns’ regular-season finale is exactly one month from Thursday.
Durant’s injury occurred when he was driving to the basket during warmups prior to what would have been his first home game as a Sun. He slipped and went to the floor as he attempted to jump for a layup attempt (Twitter video link via Kellan Olson of ArizonaSports.com).
Hopefully Durant’s injury is less serious than a Grade 2 sprain, but if that’s the diagnosis, he and the Suns can certainly count on a multi-week absence.
LaMelo Ball, Chris Duarte and Justise Winslow are among the players who have suffered Grade 2 ankle sprains so far this season — Ball missed nearly five weeks, Duarte was out for a little over six weeks and Winslow remains on the shelf nearly two-and-a-half months after injuring his ankle (though that recovery process seems abnormally long).
More recently, Anfernee Simons was diagnosed with a Grade 2 sprain last month and returned in just over two weeks, but he aggravated the injury in his first game back; Hamidou Diallo was ruled out for at least three to four weeks after sustaining a Grade 2 sprain on Monday.
Durant, who was still recovering from an MCL sprain when he was acquired a month ago at the trade deadline, has only appeared in three games for his new club. However, teammate Chris Paul said after Wednesday’s win over Oklahoma City that he’s not worried about the Suns running out of time to jell due to KD’s injury (Twitter link via Bourguet). For what it’s worth, Phoenix won all three of its games with Durant – all on the road – by an average margin of 13 points.
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