Six days before the Warriors announced they will be re-evaluating Kevin Durant’s sprained MCL in his left knee and tibial bone bruise, ESPN is reporting that his progress has the team believing he may return before the end of the regular season.
Story posting now w/ @chrisbhaynes: ESPN sources say Kevin Durant’s progress has Warriors hopeful he can return before end of regular season
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) March 22, 2017
Via Marc Stein and Chris Haynes:
The Golden State Warriors aren’t scheduled to formally update the status of Kevin Durant’s left knee until next week, but there is cautious optimism within the organization that Durant — should he maintain his current recovery arc — will be able to return to the court before the end of the regular season, according to league sources.
Durant was seen hoisting jumpers before last nights game in Dallas without a knee brace for the first time since his injury, an indication that he is progressing nicely after limping around in crutches shortly after the injury.
Durant looked pretty comfortable shooting jumpers before the Mavericks game. didn’t see him doing anything more explosive than this, though. pic.twitter.com/E51raIkkeY
— Tim Cato (@tim_cato) March 21, 2017
Durant suffered the Grade 2 MCL tear and tibial bone bruise on Feb. 28, when Marcin Gortat threw Zaza Pachulia to the ground and into Durant’s knee. The Warriors announced that they had no timetable for Durant’s return, and that he would be re-evaluated four weeks from Mar. 1. The Warriors play their last regular season game on April 12.
After a slow start without KD where they lost five of seven games, Golden State has found their groove, winning five straight.