Three big questions the day after Kevin Durant's Achilles injury

Warriors star Kevin Durant will miss some (maybe all) of next season, but he can return to be an elite player

There could be no bigger stage for a comeback and then injury again as that on which Kevin Durant and the Warriors found themselves in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday night.

By video and my analysis, (see @ProFootballDoc timeline) it was clearly a complete Achilles tendon tear. As we wait for the final inevitable word of a MRI to confirm the rupture, here are the three big questions the next day.


Was it irresponsible for the Warriors or the medical staff to allow Durant to play?

Was yesterday's Achilles injury related to the "calf" injury of just over a month ago?

What does it mean now for Durant, his recovery, free agency, the Warriors or the NBA landscape?

Was it irresponsible?

Irresponsible, no. Risky, yes. Durant was clearly not 100 percent.

Often, people say it is the team/medical staff's job to "protect a player from himself." That is definitely true if there is catastrophic or permanent injury involved. However, if the Warriors were waiting for a player to be 100 percent and have no risk, then Klay Thompson would still be out with his hamstring strain, Kevon Looney would have never played with his rib cartilage fracture, Steph Curry would still be out with ligament damage from his finger dislocation, DeMarcus Cousins would sit with his quad (and maybe residual Achilles) injury, Andre Igudola would miss due to multiple ailments — and maybe more.

Same goes for the Raptors.

Heck, if medical staffs in the NFL "protected" players from themselves and only allowed fully healthy players to suit up, the active roster would have to be at least 153 (instead of 53) to field a team of 45.

The key here is as long as the medical staff informed Durant and the team of the risks, this decision was not irresponsible. Based on Durant's social media post after injury in support of the Warriors, there doesn't seem to be any regret, animosity or hint that he was led astray.

Remember, return to play is a joint decision between the medical staff, player and team. The "vote" has to be a unanimous "yes" to return to play. The medical staff decision is made jointly by the doctor/surgeon/consultants, athletic trainers and physical therapists. The player makes his call with input from his agent, advisors, personal doctors and family. The team position is formulated by the coaches, general manager, front office and ownership.

Prior to Game 3, it was clear Klay Thompson wanted to play. It seemed medical would tentatively clear him to play through a mild hamstring strain, but the team (head coach Steve Kerr) seemed to not allow it.

Kerr did say the doctors told him that there was no chance of re-injury with Durant, but that almost certainly has to be a misinterpretation. There was no way Durant was 100 percent. Why wouldn't he have played Game 4 if he was at 95 percent? And typically, one doesn't go from mostly healthy to completely so in just three days.

Durant should be lauded for putting his current team first to accept the risk and try to play through the injury, as opposed to taking care of himself and his pending free agency. If he had not played, there would be a chorus of questions, as the Warriors were facing three straight elimination games.

I just wish he would have stayed a spot-up shooter, where he had significant early success. The ball needed to go through Curry to create as to not stress Durant's leg. On Durant's first attempt to be explosive and make something happen with the ball, he injured his Achilles.

Was it related?

Probably. No one from the outside (including me) can know for sure, but the evidence strongly points to the original injury and the new one to be related.


On a simplistic level, if your car breaks down and you take it to the mechanic to have the carburetor fixed, and then on your first big road trip your car has trouble again, the chances are good that it is related to the original issue.

It was 33 days ago that Durant was said by the team to have a calf strain. My suspicion all along was Achilles injury, although it didn't seem to be full tear. This was based on video analysis and subsequent images of Durant icing his leg down low in the region of the Achilles.

Please note that I am in no way being critical of the Warriors or their medical staff. "Calf" is not technically wrong, as they did not say calf muscle and the Achilles can be considered part of the calf/lower leg area. The team doctors do not give the verbiage to reporters; the team makes that call. For example, we see NFL teams all the time say shoulder when they mean season-ending pec tear. Again, to be clear, I am not saying the doctors misdiagnosed a potential Achilles as a calf. The likelihood is they knew exactly what was going on but that doesn't get translated to the public.

The first time Durant made an explosive move Monday, he had a classic Achilles injury. People in their 40s and 50s tear their Achilles because the tendon is weak. Professional athletes tear their Achilles because their gastrocnemius (calf) muscle is strong and contracts too quickly for the tendon to lengthen, and it tears.

The violent muscle contraction and "ripple" is evidence the muscle overpowered the tendon. It is like in a game of tug-of-war — if the rope breaks or the other side let's go, the "winning side" falls down backwards in a heap. In this way, Durant had to have a strong calf muscle to tear his Achilles which speaks against a calf muscle strain.

The theory here (not fact) is that Durant had some partial injury to his Achilles that the Warriors knew about and treated appropriately with over a month's rest and made a calculated risk/reward decision that didn't work out.

What does it mean now?

First, we need to wait for the flight back to the Bay Area and then the MRI to make it official. Assuming the inevitable is confirmed, here is what it is likely to portend:

Durant will need Achilles repair surgery and lengthy rehab. He will miss significant time in the upcoming NBA season. It is possible he could return late or even decide to miss the entire 2019-20 season. Professional athletes have returned in 6-9 months, but ankle push off is so vital for a NBA player that the basketball timeline is more like 9-12 months or more.

This is a devastating injury for a basketball player, but Durant can return to be the same or very close. This does not mark his downfall as an elite player.

Many would point to Bryant, who was still good but not the same player after his Achilles. But it is significant to remember Bryant was older (34) when he tore his Achilles, and six games into his return had a season-ending knee injury, which complicated matters. Look at high-flying Dominique Wilkins, who returned about nine months from his complete Achilles tear and was the same player.

I am not a contractual expert, but it seems to me that with Durant's supreme talent a team would still make him a max offer. Or he could choose to exercise his player option to stay. The landscape of the league is changed with this, but it might actually extend Durant's tenure with the Warriors.


I wish Durant the best of luck in his recovery. Let's salute his effort to try to help his team.