Durant likely to miss at least another week or two
Kevin Durant has already missed more than a month with what has been termed a hamstring strain, and he is expected to sit out at least another week or two.
Given Durant’s importance and his injury history — he missed 18 months with a ruptured Achilles — Nets fans are naturally worried that there’s something more substantial or serious going on. But an expert that spoke with The Post said that kind of timeline is about right for an injury that can be tricky and temperamental.
As a matter of fact, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Laith Jazrawi said six weeks is the minimum timeline he gives patients for returning from such an injury. Since its one of the biggest muscle tendons in the body — crossing the knee joint and connecting to the pelvis — the hamstring is notoriously tough to rest.
“It’s almost involved in every movement, every sort of twisting and cutting. So, it’s so hard to manage these patients, rest it or even rehab it because it’s just such a big muscle unit that resting it is almost impossible. It’s very difficult,” said Jazrawi, chief of the Division of Sports Medicine at NYU Langone Health. “Anytime you engage, do a sprint or cut quickly, the hamstrings fire.
“They stabilize the pelvis, but their main thing is for knee flexion. It really connects to the core. It’s all involved. So when a patient gets a hamstring injury, an athlete, I tell him six weeks minimum, sometimes three months. It depends on the severity. If it’s a real tear, it’s definitely going to be closer to three months from recovery, where they’re back to top shape. The other thing with hamstring injuries [is] that they could linger and cause chronic pain issues where they reinjure it slightly.”
➤ Blake Griffin is inching closer to making his Nets debut.
The Nets play host to the Wizards on Sunday, and Nash wouldn’t rule out Griffin playing that soon.
“I don’t know. He’s getting closer,” coach Steve Nash said. “He’s doing great, looks good and is improving. And working hard off the floor as well. He’s addressing all the things he needs to address to land safely back in the game and to transition into our team. That’s not easy. We don’t want to take that for granted.
“He has to adapt to the way we play, new teammates, new system, new style. But he’s doing everything you could ask. Just his presence is important, because he’s an intelligent, mature, experienced player. We’re looking forward to having him. I don’t know when that’ll be, but it’s coming. He does look really good right now.”