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Kevin Durant has been diagnosed with an MCL sprain in his right knee and will be re-evaluated in two weeks, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Durant left Sunday’s win over the Heat after a collision with Heat forward Jimmy Butler in the third quarter. He underwent further testing Monday which revealed an MCL sprain. The team did not put a timetable on his recovery, though there’s optimism he can be back on the court within six weeks, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
It’s devastating news for the Nets, who’ve won 14 of their past 15 games and have propelled all the way to second place in the Eastern Conference. However, with only five games separating the second and seventh seed in the East, Kyrie Irving and the Nets will have their work cut out for them.
The 34-year-old is all too familiar with this injury, as it costed him over a month in both 2017 and again last season. The Nets went 5-16, including 11 straight losses, when Durant sprained his MCL on Jan. 15 of 2022.
In 38 games this season, Durant has averaged 30 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists while shooting a career-high 56% from the floor. Yuta Watanabe, Joe Harris and Seth Curry all will see a uptick in usage with Durant out.
