As feared, Warriors’ Durant ruptured right Achilles tendon
OAKLAND, Calif. — Kevin Durant confirmed what everyone most feared: He underwent surgery for a ruptured right Achilles tendon.
Durant posted on social media Wednesday the severity of his injury two days after getting hurt during Game 5 of the NBA Finals in Toronto in his return from a strained right calf that sidelined him a month.
The 30-year-old posted a photo on Instagram showing himself in a hospital bed and wrote: “I wanted to update you all: I did rupture my Achilles. Surgery was today and it was a success, EASY MONEY.”
Just 15 minutes before Durant went public, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said during a finals media availability that he didn’t yet have a formal update on Durant. Durant has made his own announcements before, such as writing on The Players’ Tribune website about his decision to leave Oklahoma City to join Golden State in July 2016.
Kerr said everyone in the organization is “devastated,” including Dr. Rick Celebrini, the team’s director of medicine and performance. The Warriors made a “collaborative” decision to clear Durant to play — with the input of Durant and his representative — and had no idea that Durant risked a serious Achilles injury by returning from a strained calf, Kerr said.
“Now, would we go back and do it over again? Damn right,” he said. “But that’s easy to say after the results. When we gathered all the information, our feeling was the worst thing that could happen would be a re-injure of the calf. That was the advice and the information that we had. At that point, once Kevin was cleared to play, he was comfortable with that, we were comfortable with that. So the Achilles came as a complete shock. I don’t know what else to add to that, other than had we known that
this was a possibility, that this was even in the realm of possibility, there’s no way we ever would have allowed Kevin to come back.”
The two-time reigning Finals MVP was hurt Monday in the second quarter of Golden State’s 106-105 win that forced a Game 6 at Oracle Arena. The Raptors lead the best-of-seven series, 3-2. Such an injury could require a year of recovery time.
Stephen Curry can only imagine how much Durant is hurting emotionally not being able to play — but second-guessing benefits nobody at this stage, he said.
“Everybody has great 20/ 20 hindsight,” Curry said, then added: “I trust our medical staff and know [general manager] Bob Myers has our best interests in terms of not just what we can do in this series, but long term in our overall health. You see how hard he took it, talking to you guys after the game. And that’s really genuine and authentic. So you can waste time talking about the what-ifs and this and that. Injuries are tough and they [stink]. They’re a part of our game, and they’re going to continue to be a part of our game.”