The same injury that derailed the Nets’ last season has reared its ugly head, with Kevin Durant suffering another sprained MCL.
An MRI exam on Tuesday (all times AEDT) revealed that Durant was diagnosed with an isolated MCL sprain of the right knee.
The injury occurred with a minute left in the third quarter of Monday’s 102-101 win at Miami after a collision with the Heat’s Jimmy Butler in the third quarter.. Durant will be re-evaluated in two weeks, but he’s all too familiar with this injury, and it has cost him over a month in both 2017 and again last season.
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Tue, 10 Jan
Tuesday January 10th
Losing Durant for another month could prove catastrophic for Brooklyn, which is 27-13 and has the second-best record in the league behind the Boston Celtics, whom they host Thursday at Barclays Center.
Durant sprained his MCL on Jan. 15 of last season and did not return until March 3. The Nets – who’d been 27-15 at that point – went just 5-16 in his absence, including dropping 11 straight games. That lack of fight in his absence contributed to his off-season trade request.
Another sprained MCL in 2017 — along with a bone bruise — cost Durant over a month in 2017 with Golden State.
Not all MCL injuries are created equal. The Nets have not said which grade Durant’s injury is — ie, Grade 1, Grade 2, etc. — but a source close to the situation confirmed it is not as severe as the one he suffered last season. That was believed to have been a Grade 2 injury, with a Grade 1 being a shorter-term injury.
Durant has been an integral part of Brooklyn’s strong start to the season, which has left the Nets second in the Eastern Conference, one game behind Boston with 27 wins and 13 defeats.
The 34-year-old 12-time NBA All-Star has averaged 29.7 points per game in 39 games this season, with 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists.
– This story was originally published in The New York Post and reproduced with permission
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