Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti announced on Friday that Kevin Durant has been removed from all basketball activities, effectively shutting him down for an indefinite amount of time.
“The goal is to get him back on the court healthy, whenever that is,” Presti told reporters, per Michael Lee of The Washington Post. “If that takes the rest of the regular season, if that takes the rest of the playoffs, that’s what it takes.”
Presti said that Durant’s foot injury has not progressed as the team had hoped it would. Durant last played on Feb. 19, and he appeared to be on the road to recovery until he was held out of practice on Thursday after complaining of soreness. The 26-year-old star underwent surgery before the season when he broke his foot. He later had another procedure done to relieve soreness that was being caused by the screw doctors inserted.
While they are currently clinging to the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, the Thunder have no interest in letting Durant play through discomfort.
“Unless he’s able to be back on the floor without soreness, he won’t be back on the floor,” Presti said.
It goes without saying that this is terrible news for the Thunder. Russell Westbrook has played lights out during Durant’s absence (just don’t try asking him about it), but there is little chance Oklahoma City can make a deep run without Durant. Qualifying for the playoffs with 14 games remaining in the regular season will be a challenge in itself.
