The Nets won their 18th game out of their last 20 on Sunday night in a 102-101 thriller over the Heat, but all eyes were on Kevin Durant and his longterm health after the star left with a right knee injury late in the third quarter after Jimmy Butler fell into him on a drive.
Durant missed time around this same portion of last season, having to relinquish his All-Star spot due to a knee injury, and the hope was simply that he had avoided anything major. On Monday morning, the Nets announced the results of an MRI which provided a brief sense of relief as Durant had suffered an “isolated MCL sprain” that would keep him out for at least two weeks, with a re-evaluation scheduled for late January.
Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant has been diagnosed with an isolated MCL sprain of the right knee. The injury occurred during the third quarter of last night’s game at Miami. Durant will be reevaluated in two weeks.
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) January 9, 2023
There's optimism Durant will miss less time than he did with a six-week absence last season; a significant sigh of relief around the Nets and their MVP candidate. https://t.co/MrfAPtU90W
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 9, 2023
That is, all things considered, a positive update on the 34-year-old who is in the midst of another MVP caliber season. One would expect Brooklyn to proceed cautiously with Durant, leaning on their recent hot streak to provide them with some cushion to give KD as long a runway as possible before his return — and also likely see some injury management absences on back-to-backs after he returns. In the meantime, Brooklyn will have to lean even more on Kyrie Irving and Jacque Vaughn will likely need to shuffle his rotation to lean more on some of his offensive-minded role players a bit more until Durant comes back.
