History suggests Achilles injuries take a heavy toll

The devastating truth about Kevin Durant’s injury is there’s little evidence suggesting he’ll ever be as good of a player as he was before suffering an Achilles injury in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday.

Results from Durant’s MRI on Tuesday are still pending, but the verdict on Achilles injuries in general is there may be no worse injury for an athlete to suffer.

Durant, who can opt out of his $31.5 million deal with the Warriors and become a free agent later this month, is facing a grueling rehab that will likely keep him out of the NBA for about a year. Some players return nine months after surgery, others such as Durant’s teammates DeMarcus Cousins and Jonas Jerebko, miss a year after their Achilles injuries.

Durant’s prognosis also depends on the severity of his injury. If it’s a partial tear, sometimes patients don’t need surgery to repair it. A complete tear or rupture requires surgery — Cousins underwent surgery in late January 2018 and made his Warriors debut on Jan. 18 of this year.

Cousins’ comeback this season should give Durant reason for optimism. While Cousins has yet to display all of the athleticism that made him a four-time AllStar, he did average 22.8 points in 30 games.

Another factor in Durant’s favor is he’s such a great player that even the slightest drop-off would keep him among the NBA’s elite.

In a 2013 medical study by the American Journal of Sports Medicine on major Achilles injuries for NBA players over a 23-year span (1988-2011), seven of the 18 players studied never played in the league again. The ones who returned saw their Player Efficiency Ratings decline in each of their first two seasons back.

Some NBA players who have blown out their Achilles tendons over the last decade include Kobe Bryant, Rudy Gay, Chauncey Billups and Wesley Matthews. For a variety of reasons, including age, none of them returned to their same prominence.