Kevin Durant Injury Update: Star to Be Re-Evaluated in 1 Week After Procedure

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant underwent a procedure Sunday to replace the screw in his surgically repaired foot and is expected to miss at least one week, general manager Sam Presti announced.

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As we have conveyed, Kevin has experienced increased soreness in his right foot recently and as a result we initiated a process to determine the best way to manage it moving forward. In order to alleviate that discomfort, it was determined after consultation with Dr. Robert Anderson, and after receiving a second opinion from Dr. Martin O’Malley, that because the fracture itself has continued to heal as anticipated, there was an opportunity to address irritation from the screw, and make an adjustment to a different piece of hardware within the foot to relieve the symptoms of his soreness.  

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Durant, 26, fractured his right foot in October and missed the Thunder's first 17 games. While he returned Dec. 2 and has largely played at All-Star form, the reigning MVP has dealt with lingering soreness along with myriad other issues.

Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated believes the Thunder's entire season hinges on Durant's health: "With Durant, Oklahoma City has a shot to beat anyone in the league; without him, it has an excellent chance to be eliminated by any of the West's playoff teams in the first round."

Durant, who went 4-of-14 in Oklahoma City's first game after the All-Star break against the Dallas Mavericks, sat out Saturday's 110-103 victory against the Charlotte Hornets. He underwent further testing, which is when doctors determined the best course of action was another procedure to quell the pain and eliminate the chance of a long-term absence.

"The fracture itself is healing excellently by all accounts and we continue to feel good about the prognosis moving forward, but in the short term as he continued to have this discomfort, we wanted to determine the best way to alleviate it while still promoting the continued healing of the initial injury," Presti said.

The Thunder are 18-9 with Durant in the lineup this season and 12-16 with him on the bench. While most of those losses came during a November nadir with Russell Westbrook also out, Oklahoma City is in real danger of missing the playoffs if Durant can't get back on the floor soon. The Thunder currently hold a 1.5-game lead over the Phoenix Suns for the No. 8 seed in the West, the first time they've been on the right side of the playoff picture all season.

Durant is averaging 25.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game this season. Replacing his production will be imperative for a Thunder team trying to cling to one of the final playoff spots in the Western Conference.

As Mannix noted, a bigger spotlight will likely shine on Westbrook during Durant's absence, especially with Reggie Jackson now in Detroit.

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