Kevin Durant had procedure on foot, will be re-evaluated in a week
The Oklahoma City Thunder announced on Sunday that forward Kevin Durant had undergone a procedure on his foot to address increased soreness. Durant will be re-evaluated in one week, according to the team.
Durant's soreness is related surgery he had during the preseason to repair a fractured bone. The surgery also sidelined Durant for the first month of the season. In addition to his foot injury, Durant missed several games earlier this month due to a sprained left big toe.
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According to a release form Thunder executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti, the procedure was intended to adjust hardware in Durant's foot and address lingering discomfort.
"Kevin has experienced increased soreness in his right foot recently and as a result we initiated a process to determine the best way to manage it moving forward. In order to alleviate that discomfort, it was determined...that because the fracture itself has continued to heal as anticipated, there was an opportunity to address irritation from the screw, and make an adjustment to a different piece of hardware within the foot to relieve the symptoms of his soreness."
Presti, however, said that injury has been healing and that the team remained optimistic about Durant's recovery.
"The fracture itself is healing excellently by all accounts and we continue to feel good about the prognosis moving forward, but in the short term as he continued to have this discomfort, we wanted to determine the best way to alleviate it while still promoting the continued healing of the initial injury.
He is expected to be re-evaluated within a week to determine when he will return this regular season."
Durant played during this year's All-Star game, and said afterwards that his foot had felt better during the game. However, the 26-year-old was held out of the Thunder's win against the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday because of soreness.
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Durant, currently in his seventh year in the league, is averaging 25.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists through 27 games.
Oklahoma City is currently 30-25 overall and 17-17 in the Western Conference. The Thunder are second to the Portland Trailblazers in the Northwest division and eighth in the conference.
The Thunder host the Denver Nuggets on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET.
- Christopher Woody
