For the second consecutive year, the Brooklyn Nets opened January near the top of the Eastern Conference. And for the second consecutive year, Kevin Durant's MVP-level season, as well as Brooklyn's climb up the standings, were halted by an MCL sprain.
Durant has missed the Nets' last six games after going down during a Jan. 8 win at Miami. The team announced Tuesday that the former MVP would be re-evaluated in two weeks, pushing his absence to a minimum of one month:
Kevin Durant Medical Update: pic.twitter.com/3dGyrIju5P
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) January 24, 2023
This marks the third time the 12-time All-Star has sustained the injury in five years. The first two occurred in Durant's left knee with Zaza Pachulia crashing into him in 2017 and Bruce Brown doing the same during a Jan. 15 win against New Orleans last season. The injury came in a similar fashion this time around with Jimmy Butler falling into Durant's knee after losing his balance on a layup attempt.
The fourth-year Net said he knew what had happened immediately after taking the hit from Butler. And Durant even took blame for the three injuries while citing his poor positioning and engagement on the plays.
“I been through that (MCL Sprain) three times and pretty much every time I was in no man's land not guarding my man or not even in help position,” Durant said. “So I attribute all of that to basically not being locked in on that moment and somebody used the space that they felt like they had and just fell into that space. I knew exactly what happened as soon as I did it so I was just thinking about the recovery after that.”
Durant said he was frustrated re-watching the play and admitted it could have been avoided.
“I watched all those plays where I got injured like that,” he said. “I should have just doubled (Jimmy) instead of emptying out of the paint slowly. As I was emptying out, I was just standing there watching. I wasn't even guarding my man. I wasn't even hitting nobody, so I should have ran and doubled and got Seth off of Jimmy there, and maybe that wouldn't have happened.”
Durant's rehab thus far has consisted of “small exercises” a couple of hours a day to build up strength in the knee. The 34-year-old said he has chosen not to shoot even while standing still:
“No, I don't want to tease myself like that,” Durant said. “It's tough not being able to go full speed, so I just try to do the small things first.”
Durant will begin on-court activities this week ahead of his next evaluation on Feb. 7. The Nets will play four games between the next update and the All-Star break. The team could choose to hold the forward out, effectively giving him nearly seven weeks of recovery time before they return to action on Feb. 24 in Chicago.
Brooklyn lost their first four games of Durant's absence, quickly drawing comparisons to last season's injury during which they endured an 11-game losing streak. However, this year's team has a different feel, largely due to Kyrie Irving's full-time status. Following a slow start to the Durant-less stretch, the guard scored 48 points to snap the losing streak with a win at Utah Friday. He then dropped 38 points to lead a 17-point comeback in Golden State Sunday, a game Durant called “a character win.”
For the second-straight season, Durant is spending January watching his team from the couch. The veteran said he doesn't get too animated during the games and even joked that he leaves the game on mute.
KD said he’s relaxed watching the games while out and joked that the game is on mute:
“I'm just taking in each play. No disrespect, I love Megan, but the game is on mute. Ruocco, and I love my guys, Sarah, I love y'all, but it's usually on mute. But not too animated at all.” pic.twitter.com/wcquhXMqFc
— Erik Slater (@erikslater_) January 24, 2023
The all-time great said his frustrations don't stem from the flukey nature of the injury, but rather from missing parts of the season that he looks forward to each year.
“I wasn’t feeling sorry for myself like, ‘Why me?' I was just like, s***, another year of not playing against my old teammates. Another year of maybe missing the All-Star game. Another year of not playing against LeBron James,” Durant said. “Stuff like that that I look forward to.”
“Like I said, I could have put myself in a better position to not get injured,” he continued. “That's my third time feeling great and a freak injury happens like this. So I got to put myself in a better position on the floor to avoid stuff like that. It wasn’t a feeling of woe is me or f*** why me. It is what it is.”
Brooklyn will play eight games before Durant's next update as they attempt to keep pace in the East. The Nets will look to open that stretch with a win when they travel down the New Jersey turnpike to face the Philadelphia 76ers Wednesday.
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