Oklahoma City Thunder F Kevin Durant was sidelined with a broken bone in his foot in October, and was told that it would take 6-8 weeks til he could return. Durant underwent surgery on Oct. 16, and last night, made his ’14/’15 NBA Debut on Dec. 3, only a month and a half after surgery. Yes, the Thunder have stumbled out to a 5-13 start this season, but they were also missing All-Star guard Russell Westbrook. Is Durant coming back really the answer?
I’d be worried if I were a Thunder fan. It’s obvious that Durant sees the record, and sees that the Thunder are 12th in the Western Conference. This has to be a driving factor behind his early return. However, is Durant pushing himself to heal the right move? Quite frankly, I don’t believe it is.
Durant is coming off of an MVP season, and is one of the top 2 best players in the NBA today. This makes him one of the most valuable commodities in the game, and his health should be priority number one. In fact, maybe the Thunder should take a page out of the Chicago Bulls’ book, as they are managing G Derrick Rose‘s multiple leg injuries by sitting him in the second game of back-to-backs or simply giving him a night of rest whenever he feels its necessary. While the Eastern Conference provides more of a luxury during the less competitive regular season than the Western Conference, the Thunder shouldn’t risk their future by causing further injury to Durant.
There is also another interesting aspect that the Thunder could benefit from if Durant were to spend more time healing. Previously, Mavs’ owner, Mark Cuban, made some interesting comments basically saying that Durant should sit out the season so that he’s fully healed and the Thunder could receive a high draft pick in June’s NBA Draft. Of course, that was just an inter-conference opponent wishing that one of his top competitors would knock out of the race, but it raises an interesting point. Oklahoma City has shown that they are not a championship-caliber team, even with a healthy Durant and Westbrook. So, if either or both of them got hurt again this season, wouldn’t it make sense to tank and possibly get a superstar talent like Duke C Jahlil Okafor early in the draft to pair with a healthy Durant and Westbrook next season?
While it is obvious that the Thunder are a better team with Durant on the floor, keeping him on the floor is priority number one, and foot injuries are nothing to mess with, especially in the sport of basketball.
