Kevin Durant injury update: Nets star leaves game vs. Heat with right knee issue; MRI set for Monday
Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant was ruled out of the team’s 102–101 win the Miami Heat after Kevin left the game in the third quarter with what the team announced as a right knee injury.
Durant is expected to undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of the injury according the Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn.
The injury occurred at the end of the third quarter when Heat guard Jimmy Butler landed on Durant’s knee after falling from an attempted layup. Durant immediately began grabbing at his right knee and stayed on the ground for a moment before ultimately limping back to the locker room. Shortly after, Brooklyn ruled him out for the rest of the game.
Durant kept rubbing on the knee up and down the floor and to take out when the Nets called a timeout. Durant walked straight to locker room to get his knee checked out and did not return to continue with the game.
It was around this time last season that K.D. went down with a sprained MCL in his left knee, which kept him out for five weeks. During that period, the Nets went just 5–16, including an 11-game losing streak, showing just how important Durant is to this team. However, after losing Durant Sunday night against the Heat, the Nets managed to pull out a win after being down nine points late in the fourth quarter, picking up their 18th win in the last 20 games.
We’ll have to wait until after the MRI to see if Durant will miss any time with this injury, but if he does, it’ll force Kyrie Irving, Ben Simmons and others to make up for the 30 points that K.D. provides on a nightly basis. There isn’t a single person on the Nets that could fill Durant’s role adequately, but Brooklyn has the depth to at least partially make up for his loss in production should the former league MVP be required to miss time.
Durant has been playing tremendous basketball as his is in the MVP conversation this season as he is averaging 30 points ,6.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists, leading the nets back towards the top of the Eastern Conference after a bad start the Nets had.
