Kevin Durant won't be out much longer with his ankle injury.
After Durant missed the Golden State Warriors' 106-104 victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night, head coach Steve Kerr still believes he's likely to miss at least one more game. On Saturday afternoon, Kerr revealed that Durant has indeed been ruled out against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but will "most likely" return against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday.
Durant initially suffered the ankle injury midway through the fourth quarter of Golden State's 115-112 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night.
Mark Medina of the Mercury News summarized how Durant suffered his right ankle ailment.
Steve Kerr said Kevin Durant will “most likely” play on Monday in San Antonio pic.twitter.com/LNF2XsMoLm
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) March 16, 2019
Andre Iguodala started in Durant's place at Houston while Alfonzo McKinnie made the start for K.D. against the Orlando Magic on Feb. 28 -- the only other game Durant has missed this season.
The Warriors' four-game road trip includes games against the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves. The game against OKC will take place on Saturday while the matchup vs. the Timberwolves is on Tuesday. That basically means Durant could return any time between Saturday and Tuesday.
Following Golden State's victory over Houston, the Warriors now hold a 4.5 game lead over the third-seeded Houston Rockets and a one-game lead over the second-seeded Denver Nuggets.
Although the Warriors have certainly gone through their struggles as of late -- they've lost six of their past 11 games -- they're in no sense of urgency to rush Durant back from his injury.
The 30-year-old veteran has averaged 27.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.2 blocks per game this season.
