Kevin Durant Ruled out vs. Rockets with Calf Injury

Written By | Scott Polacek

Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant will miss Thursday’s game against the Houston Rockets with a strained right calf.

The Warriors announced Durant would be out for the team’s Western Conference showdown.

Durant missed time earlier this season with an ankle injury and appeared in just 62 games last season because of a Grade 2 MCL sprain. What’s more, he played a mere 27 games in 2014-15, suggesting he has struggled to remain healthy in recent seasons.

Virtually every team in the league would be hamstrung by the loss of someone of Durant’s caliber, but the Warriors are not an ordinary team. The core still in place won a championship and an NBA-record 73 games in a regular season before Durant joined the team and figures to keep Golden State among the league’s best following this setback.

Still, Durant is an eight-time All-Star and four-time scoring champ and has a regular-season and NBA Finals MVP on his resume. He is a scoring machine when healthy and has averaged 25.9 points and 7.1 rebounds in 33 games this season after posting 25.1 points and 8.3 rebounds a night in 2016-17 during his first campaign with Golden State.

Look for the Warriors to rely on the combination of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green to carry the offense while Durant is out. Andre Iguodala and Nick Young figure to see more playing time as well.