Kevin Durant injury: Toronto Raptors fans cheer as Kevin Durant leaves NBA finals game 5 with an injury, he was later seen on crutches.
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Whether Kevin Durant rushed out to play game 5 off his own accord or due to the pressure around him, we will never know. But after Kevin Durant went down once again clutching his right calf in the first half, what we know is he was definitely not ready to come back just yet. Durant looked mighty impressive on his return, with 11 points on 4-6 shooting with 3-3 from down town before he went down with what may be a worse injury than what it was previously.
For the past few days the, as the Warriors have lost their grip on the series, there has been a lot of negative media attention around Durant and his return from injury. With reports claiming that people within the Warriors organization were looking at Klay Thompson and Kevon Looney playing through injuries as a slight on KD and his failure to return from an injury that seemed to be mild as per the diagnosis of the Warriors medical staff. There was also chatter about how Kevin Durant doesn’t sit with the Warrior while Thompson and Looney did for game 3 when each one of them was out. It turns out the league rules are the thing keeping Kevin Durant away from the bench, not his lack of interest. I am pretty sure standing around in the tunnel to talk to his teammates isn’t what he prefers over sitting in the stands.
The return from injury however did not last long as Durant while trying to dribble past Ibaka midway through the 2nd quarter and something went wrong with his right leg and Durant went down. Here is a close up look at his leg which seems to be doing something that does not look normal.
Durant was helped to the locker room by Warriors staff as well as Iguodala and Curry where he remained for a long time. At half time Doris Burke reported that there was a lot of raw emotion in the locker room and there was no report yet. KD’s agent and Warriors GM Bob Myers were inside the locker room with KD and giving him his space.
Later after the 3rd quarter though the camera’s caught up to Durant as he was exiting and he was not only wearing a walking boot on his right leg but also was on crutches, which could be precautionary, but it definitely points to an injury worse than a grade 1 calf strain.
We wish KD ones back to full strength and soon. He is probably not going to get a look in in the Finals which might be done in game 5 itself. But KD has a big summer as a free agent and how the NBA landscape looks after this season depends on KD and an NBA fan can only hope that the injury isn’t what plays a role in any of it.
