On Wednesday, Phoenix Suns star forward Kevin Durant was expected to make his home debut with the Suns but slipped and injured his ankle during pregame warmups. The injury knocked him out of the game.
Durant had an MRI on his injured ankle, and sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that he would miss two to three weeks. The Suns also noted in a press release that Durant will be reevaluated in three weeks, pushing the injury to at least three weeks.
Durant came over to the Suns in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets. In three games with the team, he’s averaging nearly 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists per game, hitting 69 percent from the floor.
Suns coach Monty Williams indicated that he feels bad for Durant, knowing what he’s feeling, and doesn’t want him to feel bad at all.
Phoenix is 3-0 in games where Durant has played and blew out the Thunder, 132-101 in the game he missed. At 37-29, the Suns are 2nd in the Pacific Division and 4th in the Western Conference, just 2.5 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies and Sacramento Kings for 2nd seed.
While there is a chance to move up in the Western Conference standings, the key for the Suns is to maintain the 4th seed to ensure home court in the first round of the playoffs. They are currently 3 games up on the Clippers, who sit 5th in the conference.
Should Durant miss three weeks, he could return home against Denver on March 31 and play the season’s final six games, which concludes against the Clippers at home on April 9.
The Suns have seven road and nine home games left in the regular season. Half of their games are against teams with a winning record.
