Kevin Durant has now missed three straight games after suffering a right calf strain in the middle of Game 5 against the Houston Rockets, and will now miss at least two more after being re-evaluated on Thursday. Durant still hasn’t been cleared to participate in any on-court work, and a diagnosis that once provided Warriors fans with a sigh of release is now growing more concerning by the day.
“Hopefully he continues to progress, and he has made progress but it’s a little more serious than we thought at the very beginning,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said, per ESPN. “So we’ll see where it all goes, but he’s in there all day long getting treatment. He’s done a great job of committing himself to that process. [Warriors director of sports medicine and performance] Rick [Celebrini] and his staff are in there all day, and hopefully he’ll be back at some point, but we’ll just wait and see.”
Depending on the length of the Western Conference Finals, Durant could miss the entirety of that series against the Portland Trail Blazers, as the Warriors take a 2-0 series lead into Game 3 at the Moda Center on Saturday. Durant is set to be evaluated again in a week, and if his progress remains minuscule, it’s not a stretch to assume his ability to play in the NBA Finals would be up in the air, too. Durant will remain in the Bay Area as the WCF shifts to Portland.
A calf strain is certainly better than a torn Achilles, but the question of whether Durant will return in these playoffs remains very much up in the air.
