Kevin Durant has a fractured foot and the NBA’s MVP seems likely to be sidelined for at least the start of the season.
The Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday said Durant informed the team of “discomfort” in his right foot after practice a day earlier. He underwent tests and the team said in a statement he was diagnosed with a “Jones” fracture — a broken bone at the base of the small toe. It’s unclear how the injury happened.
The Thunder said traditional treatment requires surgery, and recent NBA cases have resulted in a return to play in six to eight weeks.
“We are in the process of collaboratively evaluating the most appropriate next steps with Kevin, his representatives, and Thunder medical personnel,” general manager Sam Presti said in a statement. “Until a course of action is determined, we are unable to provide a timeline specific to Kevin’s case.”
The Thunder open their season Oct. 29 at Portland. A six-week absence could have Durant back for the start of December, which would allow him to play about 65 games.
“We’re really fortunate that we’re catching it when we’re catching it,” Presti said later Sunday at a news conference. “We are very fortunate that Kevin notified us yesterday and that we’re kind of catching it on the front end before this became more of an acute issue.”
Presti said Durant would only make the injury worse if he attempted to play through it.
“Because it’s a stress injury, it happened over time,” Presit said. “The fact that Kevin mentioned it when he did is a real fortunate piece of this because if he had continued to play on it, it would continue to get worse. So that it was identified when it was identified, and that the pain, or achenes, was enough to mention it, is a positive.”
Presti said the injury Durant suffered is a common one in the league.
“From what I’ve been told, a Jones fracture is the most common surgical procedure performed on NBA players as of late,” Presti said.” It has happened enough so that there is enough of a body of work to look at an average recovery time.”