The Phoenix Suns’ season may truly be cooked with the latest news about their star forward Kevin Durant.
Shams Charania of ESPN reported on Monday that Durant is expected to miss at least one week due to the left ankle sprain that he sustained on Sunday night against the Houston Rockets. Charania notes that the Suns, who are 1.5 games out of the play-in tournament, have the toughest remaining schedule in the NBA to close out the season.
The former NBA MVP Durant was injured in the third quarter of Phoenix’s loss on Sunday to the Houston Rockets. He was driving to the basket when he stepped on the foot of Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. and turned his ankle in gruesome fashion (video here).
Durant would leave the game and did not return. The Suns went on to lose 148-109, falling to 35-40 on the season.
At 36 years old, Durant could potentially need a recovery time that is far longer than a week. That is rough news for a Phoenix team that only has seven games left to play, including five games in nine days to start off the month of April. If the Suns fall any further out of the play-in race, a conversation will likely need to be had about shutting down Durant for the year.
While Durant is still under contract with Phoenix for one more guaranteed season at $54.7 million, the Suns are widely expected to trade him this summer. A few intriguing teams are said to be in the mix for him, and it looks like a very real possibility that Durant has now played his final game in a Phoenix uniform.
