Kevin Durant To Remain Out For Game 6

Durant has already missed four of five games in the first round. He was inactive for Game 1 due to a tendon bruise in his right knee, returned for Game 2, and has been out for the past three games as a result of a left ankle sprain and bone bruise.

“This bone bruise is a two-week minimum injury,” Charania said. “He’s just over one week right now.”

Despite the absence of their leading scorer, the Rockets have managed to hang around in the first round even after dropping the first three games of the series. They won Game 4 in Houston, then came away with a victory in Los Angeles on Wednesday to earn another home game on Friday.

With Durant joining veterans Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams on the injury report, Houston has been rolling with a starting lineup essentially made up entirely of the team’s young core, as Tari Eason joins Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr., Reed Sheppard, and Amen Thompson. That five-man group has a +16.7 net rating in 73 playoff minutes so far; no other Rockets lineup has played more than 24 minutes together in the postseason.

Charania’s assertion that Durant is likely facing a recovery period of at least two weeks suggests that the Rockets shouldn’t count on having him available for a potential Game 7, though it’s safe to assume the two-time Finals MVP will do all he can to try to make it back. The Lakers are also playing shorthanded, with their own top scorer, Luka Doncic, not expected to return from a hamstring strain before the end of the first round.