Kevin Durant's recovery from a torn Achilles tendon could very likely sideline him for a full season, with most around the Brooklyn Nets organization not expecting a return until the 2020-21 season. While some believe that the Achilles is a tendon that takes utterly long to heal, Dr. Steven Weinfeld, Chief of Foot and Ankle Surgery at Mount Sinai Health System, argues that it's actually the entire core of his leg that will need healing before making an awaited return to the court.

“I think it's unlikely that he would play this season, but I'd be pleasantly surprised if he did come back,” Weinfeld told Nets Insider. “Certainly things you want to be clear about as a surgeon allowing an athlete to come back to play high level sport is that obviously their repair is healed enough and that their strength is where it needs to be and that's what takes the longest in an Achilles injury. It's not so much the healing of the tendon, that usually takes somewhere between four, five, or six months, but the strength of the calf muscle doesn't usually come back for about a year and sometimes even longer. So that's what keeps the high performance athlete out as long as it does because you really have to be sure their strength is as good as it can be before you let them they come back.”

As previously explained during the time of his injury, the Kinetic chain is very much real, and athletes often find themselves compensating by over-using other muscles to make up for the fragility of the injured tendon. While re-injuring the tendon is a possibility, so is a calf strain or a hamstring in these cases when a player is re-learning to get his core back together.

It will take Durant some time to heal, but also to regain full confidence of this Kinetic chain working smoothly while losing the fear of a potential re-injury.